In furtherance of a 2018 request from the Aerospace Industry Association (“AIA”), the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (“Bureau”) of the US Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has resumed its examination as to how best to license unmanned aircraft systems (“UAS”) or drones. On August 20, the Bureau released a Public Notice1 seeking updated public input on the feasibility of permitting Line-of-Sight (“LOS”) and Beyond-Line-of-Sight (“BLOS”) drones to access the 5 GHz spectrum band. Specifically, the Bureau requests information regarding the latest operational, technical and regulatory developments “in the rapidly growing and evolving area of UAS operations,” adding that “the resulting record could help the Commission to proceed with a more informed and specific Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to make the frequencies between 5030 and 5091 MHz available as a suitable spectrum resource for UAS operations.”
