India building UTM to manage drones up to 1,000 feet
India is working on a national Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) system to manage drone traffic up to 1,000 feet above ground level.
With drones popping up everywhere, from farms and mapping projects to surveillance, mapping, agriculture, spraying and other applications, the plan is to make future deliveries and even passenger flights safer and more organized.
The Airports Authority of India is seeking global technical and operational inputs from companies to build a system that can handle lots of drones as things scale up.
India's UTM uses geofencing and NPNT
The new UTM will use features like geofencing (so drones stay in their lanes), real-time tracking for monitoring, and an NPNT (No Permission, No Takeoff) rule so only approved flights get off the ground.
It will also help avoid mid-air conflicts by syncing with India's DigitalSky platform and current air traffic systems, making sure the skies stay safe as drone use takes off in a big way.