Crowded airspace: 'Dysfunctional' interagency coordination hampers domestic deployment of drones.

• Author: Peck, Michael
• Position: UNMANNED AVIATION

If the Coast Guard has its way, unmanned aircraft will be patrolling American ports and waterways.

And if Customs and Border Protection has its way, unmanned surveillance craft may be flying over the northern border with Canada.

The Federal Aviation Administration--which must approve unmanned aircraft flights--is dismayed at the prospect of robots zipping around in national airspace that is populated by parachutists, gliders, blimps, airliners and other flying objects. It wants all unmanned aircraft to have sensors that enable them to have the same see-and-avoid capabilities as manned aircraft.

So far, the technology isn't there, and it may not be there until after 2010, according to Howard Swancy; a senior FAA advisor. "The FAA sees maybe a five- to seven-year effort, but the security forces--from their interaction with the UAV [unmanned air vehicle] manufacturers--think it's more like two to three years."

The latest FAA guidance, contained in a September 2005 memo, expresses the agency's concerns about the dangers of UAVs operating amid aircraft lacking transponders, as well as objects that may not appear on radar, such as parachutists and gliders. "An acceptable solution to the 'see and avoid' problem for unmanned aircraft is many years away," regulators concluded.

Attempts to hammer out a common policy between the FAA on one side, and Department of Homeland Security and the Defense Department on the other, haven't been harmonious. "I don't want to say disagreement," Swancy said. "But between the organizations, there is not a common understanding. The manufacturers, in order to increase the business case and salability of these systems, have added to this dysfunctional conversation."

Nonetheless, UAVs are certain to play a much greater role in homeland security. Customs and Border Protection began flying a Predator along the southern border with Mexico last September, while the Coast Guard is testing its Eagle Eye tilt-rotor craft for maritime and port surveillance.

Ricky High, interim director for UAV systems at CBP, says the Predator has been a useful "force multiplier" for Border Patrol agents. The agency currently is using one Predator "B" model, which will be joined by a second in the summer.

The first Predator B is flying four nights a week, which may expand to seven once the second vehicle is delivered. Operating at an altitude of 12,000 to 14,000 feet, the Predator covers a patrol area about 100 miles long and stretching about 15...