A dramatic increase in commercial and recreational drones -- expected to triple in four years -- will create bigger safety risks from collisions, cyberattacks and terrorism, said insurer Allianz in a report released Tuesday. Use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) likely would result in fewer work accidents and worker compensation losses, and speed up insurance claims, it said. But millions more drones in widespread use also could increase risks -- mainly mid-air collisions and loss of control -- resulting in potential multimillion-dollar claims against businesses, operators and manufacturers, Allianz added. Concerns that drones could be used for malicious acts and other "risk scenarios include the prospect of hackers ‘spoofing’ a UAS radio signal, potentially leading to a crash, the potential loss or theft of valuable recorded data when the device is transmitting information to the control station or after the flight by cyber-attack when the data has been stored," the report said. Registering drones and operators, training and educating pilots and using on-board cameras, flight communications and system maintenance are crucial to improving safety, said Allianz. Separately, ABI Research said in a Tuesday news release the small drone commercial market will exceed $30 billion by 2025.

The Federal Aviation Administration's Drone Advisory Committee, formed to discuss issues and challenges with integrating unmanned aircraft into the national airspace (see 1605040017), plans its inaugural meeting Sept. 16, said an agency news release Wednesday. Almost 400 people and organizations expressed interest in participating in the committee that will be chaired by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. Drone manufacturer DJI said Brendan Schulman, vice president-policy and legal affairs, will be on the committee, and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems said CEO Brian Wynne was selected. Some other members of the 34-person committee include: Greg Agvent, CNN senior director-national news technology and aerial imagery; Martin Gomez, Facebook director-aeronautical platforms; Gur Kimchi, vice president-Amazon Prime Air; Christopher Penrose, AT&T senior vice president-IoT; Ed Sayadian, of Harris Corp.; Phil Straub, of Garmin; Dave Vos, Google[X] Project Wing lead; and PrecisionHawk CEO Bob Young.

The Federal Aviation Administration "forecasts there could be as many as 600,000 unmanned aircraft used commercially" over the next year now that a new small drone rule took effect Monday, said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta during a Monday news conference. The rule allows drones less than 55 pounds to fly in sparsely populated areas up to 400 feet high and up to 100 miles per hour during daylight hours. It also requires those flying drones to take a written test for certification. Huerta said the rule also includes a provision to allow people to request waivers so they can operate outside parameters such as beyond the visual line of sight and over people. He said 76 such waiver requests were received Monday. CNN said in a Monday news release that the FAA granted the news organization a waiver to "operate the Fotokite Pro, a tethered platform that weighs less than two pounds, over uncovered people who are not directly participating in the [unmanned aerial systems] operation." Huerta also said the FAA will distribute privacy guidelines developed by an NTIA multistakeholder group (see 1605190007) to all operators during the registration process and to pilots during their certification process, and issue new guidance to local and state governments, but he didn't provide any details. Huerta said "in excess of 530,000" people have registered since the process went live in December. The Electronic Privacy Information Center is suing the agency for not developing privacy rules (see 1608260020). In a statement, Doug Johnson, CTA vice president-technology, said that if the government "continues to embrace drone technology policy that balances safety and innovation, by 2025 our country will reach one million drone flights per day." CTA predicts 2.4 million drones will be sold in the U.S. this year, up 112 percent from last year.

Integration of drones in the national airspace, their innovative commercial and government uses, the role of R&D in drone policymaking, and privacy and safety concerns will be topics at a White House workshop Tuesday, 9-11 a.m. Hosted by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the live-streamed event will feature remarks by Michael Huerta, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, who co-leads the FAA's Drone Advisory Council (see 1605040017). Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International CEO Brian Wynne will moderate a panel on the technical progress of drones at the event, which will convene a number of other academic, federal and industry experts. Following the White House event, a live flight demo of a drone will be at the Newseum at 1:30 p.m. In June, the FAA finalized new rules for the commercial use of drones weighing less than 55 pounds (see 1606210025).

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International is partnering with a group of state lieutenant governors who support aerospace initiatives to promote use of drones to grow the national economy. AUVSI CEO Brian Wynne said in a Thursday news release that the Aerospace States Association (ASA) will help advance unmanned aviation at the state level. "Informing state elected officials about the benefits of unmanned systems and listening to their concerns and interest in this emerging technology are vital to enabling the infrastructure and public policy needed to grow our industry,” he said. The drone industry "is expected to grow our state economies, create over 100,000 high-paying jobs, and be a source of innovation and inspiration for our youth to enter the [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] workforce,” said Alabama Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey (R), who also chairs ASA. The release said Wynne will speak at ASA's annual meeting July 29 about Federal Aviation Administration recent rules for operation of small commercial drones (see 1606210025).

Federal Aviation Administration programs, including some for drones, will be extended through Sept. 30, 2017, under a bipartisan, bicameral agreement reached Wednesday, said leaders of the House Transportation and Senate Commerce committees Wednesday in a news release. Drone provisions in a summary of the FAA extension include streamlined processes for deploying unmanned aircraft during disaster responses, wildfires and other emergencies. The summary also said it would prohibit drone users from interfering with emergency response activities and raises civil penalties for such violations to not more than $20,000. Another provision creates new processes to detect, identify and ease unauthorized use of drones around airports and other critical infrastructure.

IEEE and the IEEE Standards Association formed a working group on standards for communications between manned, unmanned, civil and commercial aircraft, IEEE said in a news release. “The growing utilization of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is driving a need to ensure safety through increased situational awareness and direct air-to-air communications for all types of aircraft,” said Kamesh Namuduri, chair of the IEEE Aerial Network Communications Working Group. “The work ahead is of utmost importance.” The working group launched a web page and will meet starting in September, IEEE said.

House and Senate committee leaders need to pass a short-term extension of Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization legislation with certain provisions for the continued integration of unmanned aerial systems, urged the Small UAV Coalition Tuesday. FAA reauthorization expires July 15. Provisions in House and Senate reauthorization bills would establish an unmanned traffic management system, create a framework for drones and affirm exclusive federal jurisdiction over national airspace, aircraft and pilots to supersede a patchwork of different restrictions, the industry group wrote in a letter to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., and ranking member Pete DeFazio, D-Ore., and Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla. A short-term extension is needed now, but the group, which counts Amazon and Google among members, said a longer-term plan is "imperative. The burgeoning UAS industry needs a forward-leaning, long-term regulatory framework within which it can develop in a safe, responsible, and efficient manner." The group said recent FAA rules on commercial operations for drones weighing under 55 pounds are a good start (see 1606210025) but added that the rules don't "alleviate the need for Congress to act to ensure that the FAA takes a more progressive and expeditious approach to developing robust UAS regulations."

Nokia asked the FCC for special temporary authority to test mobile phones aboard an unmanned aerial vehicle. “The proposed tests will measure radio frequency signal strength of a mobile network by using three AT&T commercial smart phones and a DRT receiver [a device that mimics a cell tower] installed on a drone,” said the STA request. Tests would be done in Kansas, including at the Kansas Speedway, for a three-month period starting in June, Nokia said.

Retail drone sales soared 224 percent over the past year as more features such as 4K resolution cameras, Bluetooth and built-in GPS are being offered, the NPD Group said in a Wednesday news release. The research firm said sales for the year ending in April grew to almost $200 million, with DJI, Parrot and Protocol as top sellers. Drones with 4K cameras were more than a third of dollar sales, while devices with built-in GPS generated about 64 percent of revenue, said NPD. Drones costing more than $500 were 56 percent of revenue in the 12 months ending in April, the firm said. "The average drone sold for more than $550 in April, giving drones one of the highest average prices of all categories in technology at retail." Unit sales during the 2015 holiday season grew 445 percent over the prior-year season, with December sales alone increasing 273 percent, NPD said. The firm said the Federal Aviation Administration's requirement to register drones weighing between 0.55 pounds and 55 pounds (see 1601060045 and 1602190012) "seemingly" didn't affect demand. "Consumer research indicates drone purchase expectations remain high, especially among younger consumers," NPD industry analyst Ben Arnold said in the release. "This points to continued growth and healthy demand for the category.”