Mary-Louise Hoffman
AT&T supports a NASA-led project to research and develop a traffic management system for the agency to manage the safety and security of unmanned aircraft system operations in U.S. airspace.
The company said Thursday it aims to contribute networking, internet of things, cloud, identity management and cybersecurity expertise to NASA’s UAS traffic management initiative.
“Drones are already used in agriculture, public safety, construction, utilities, real estate and TV,” said Mike Leff, vice president of AT&T’s global public sector solutions business for civilian agencies.
“This research can help support the commercial and private use of drones nationwide.”
NASA partnered with AT&T and several other technology companies in efforts to facilitate safe flight path monitoring, flight planning, navigation, surveillance and tracking of drones.
The agency envisions implementing a portable UTM system that would support drone-based precision agriculture and disaster relief missions as well as a persistent UTM system that would support low-altitude drone operations and continuous geographical area coverage.
AT&T said it seeks to help NASA study the potential impact of cybersecurity threats on unmanned aircraft and integrate protections into the future UTM platform.
