Standards: A little less conversation, a little more action please!

On Tuesday, 21 July Altitude Angel held a webinar titled, ‘Standards: A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action Please’.

The webinar panel, moderated by Altitude Angel’s Head of Air Traffic Management, Phil Binks, was made up of the company Founder and CEO Richard Parker, Chief Operating Officer, Chris Forster and Mike Gadd, Head of Certification & Regulatory Affairs.

During the lively debate, the panel discussed numerous topics around the subject of standards, including the setting and usefulness of standards, how they are arrived at, the drivers of standards being proposed, and most importantly, are standards helping drive the industry forward?

“The innovation of the best technical solutions is key, and standards should be used to aid a solution, not be a precursor to developing it,” said Chris. “We [the industry] should use existing standards where it makes sense to do so and not just create another standard for the sake of it. When we get to common standards, I believe they are best created by industry in a collaborative way.  When standards are created by one or more parties, we should be careful not to stifle innovation by forcing a solutions direction.”

Mike added: “Standards are a tool to help different players work together, either to build systems and services that address the market needs or to enable the regulators to determine these solutions are fit for purpose.  I see the challenge is to be clear on what these systems and services need to do and how they fit into the airspace design and management strategies of different countries.  Greater clarity on these, and even better, for the industry to be part of defining what they are, can only help resolve solutions and accelerate their implementation."

As the debate drew to a close, Richard was asked to summerise his thoughts. “There are two key points I would like to make. The first is standards in this context are about the airspace, not about traffic management per se.

“And secondly, standards are an important tool in enabling the evolution of UTM, but they are just a tool, not a panacea. It’s important to recognise standards (plural) cover different aspects, some are technical and some are procedural, but all are a means to demonstrate or comply with a requirement or regulation: careful articulation of the regulations is therefore key to identify areas in which standardisation would be helpful.

“Standardisation as a purely academic activity, in and of itself should not be the goal, and the industry should be mindful of standards bodies, companies and individuals developing or proposing such standards both in a vacuum and where the standard is effectively the product.”

This webinar was the first in a series where the team at Altitude Angel share their thoughts, views, and opinions on a number of topics and subjects surrounding the UAV industry today, with future webinars featuring special guests.   

We would like to spark debate and reasoned conversation. You may agree with what we say, you might oppose, but we’re open to the debate and keep an open mind and are pleased to host this forum.

If there’s a topic or subject you would like to hear the team at Altitude Angel discuss, then please feel free to get in touch. It is our intention to invite external contributors to join us on future webinars so if you know someone who may like to be involved then once again, please feel free to let us know.