Additional information is forthcoming over the next few months. Federal Aviation Administration in the United States).Īs of March 01, 2017, Harvard's policy for the use of UAS/Drones is being revised with rules being developed to govern their use above or around any of the University's Massachusetts campuses. While autonomous aircraft are considered unsuitable for commercial use due to legal liability issues, remotely piloted aircraft are being seen increasingly outside of military and government research uses and are, therefore, becoming the subject of civil regulation by the relevant aviation authorities (i.e. control link, a specialized datalink andīeyond the military applications of UAVs, with which the term 'drones' first became most associated, numerous civil aviation uses have been developed, including aerial surveying of crops, acrobatic aerial footage in film making, search and rescue operations, inspecting power lines and pipelines, counting wildlife, and delivering medical supplies to remote or otherwise inaccessible regions.control system, such as ground control station (GCS).Systems range in cost from a few thousand dollars to tens of millions of dollars and range in capability from Micro Air Vehicles (MAV) weighing less than one pound to aircraft weighing over 40,000 pounds. The complete system includes ground stations and other elements besides the actual aircraft. The term UAS has been adopted by the United States Department of Defense (DOD) and the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to describe a broad range of aircraft. The term unmanned aircraft system (UAS) or remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) emphasizes the importance of other elements beyond the aircraft itself. (1) A UAV, commonly known as a drone, unpiloted aerial vehicle, or remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), has its flight controlled either autonomously by on-board computers or by the remote control of a pilot on the ground or in another vehicle. A unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is defined as a 'powered, aerial vehicle that does not carry a human operator, uses aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift, can fly autonomously or be piloted remotely, can be expendable or recoverable, and can carry a lethal or nonlethal payload'.

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