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StoriesPlace: Airspace and drones

A shared sky below 120 metres

Flying beyond visual line of sight turns a drone from a camera on a stick into infrastructure. It needs a command link that holds, an identity others can read and an airspace service that knows who else is flying; regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are writing the rules now12.

Systems
Command and control links, Remote identification, Airspace services
Toward 2030
Routine beyond-visual-line-of-sight flight
Figures
4, field scene, simulator, systems diagram, timeline to 2030

Go to the references

01Field scene

Drones, a dock and the cell that carries them.

A drone docked beside a substation flies an inspection route over the line; a cell site carries its command link and video; a sensing radar on the tower sees aircraft that do not broadcast. The cellular standard already specifies support for drones as a class of user3.

Figure as text: Drones on an inspection route under a cell site and a sensing radar

A wireframe landscape with a power line on three pylons, a cell tower, a sensing radar with a red halo, a drone dock and two drones in flight linked to the tower.

  • Drone in flight
  • Cell site, C2 link
  • Sensing radar
  • Dock

02Simulator

How far the command link can reach.

A drone at 120 m sees a 30 m mast at a greater distance than a person on the ground does, which is why aerial users can load neighbouring cells. The radio horizon gives the outer bound; the link budget decides the rest4.

Figure as text: Radio horizon from a mast to a drone at 120 m

An elevation drawing over the curved Earth with a mast on the left, a drone at 120 m on the right and the red line of sight.

Radio horizon from a mast to a drone at 120 m, at the starting values
Mast height30 m
Receiver height120 m
Radio horizon (4/3 Earth)67.7 km
Geometric line of sight58.7 km
Area within the radio horizon14,398 km²

03Systems diagram

Who knows the drone is there.

Remote identification broadcasts the drone’s identity and position5; an airspace service provider, a U-space service in European terms6, shares flight intent and conflicts. A risk assessment method decides what an operation must prove7. Lose the command link and the drone falls back to its programmed contingency; lose the airspace service and flights are held.

Figure as text: Command, identity and airspace services for one flight

A four-tier diagram: the drone and its sensors, the links (cellular and direct radio), the operator and the airspace service, and the authority.

  • Aircraft: Drone, Remote ID
  • Links: Cellular C2, Direct radio
  • Operations: Operator, Airspace service
  • Authority: Authority

8 links. Scenarios: Normal operation; Cellular link lost; Airspace service down.

04Timeline to 2030

The rules arrive.

Within three years, remote identification became mandatory in the United States, the European U-space framework became applicable, a revised risk assessment method was published, Canada’s rules for lower-risk flight beyond visual line of sight came into force, and the United States proposed its own1.

Figure as text: Rules for drones beyond visual line of sight

A timeline from 2021 to 2030 of drone rules in North America and Europe.

  1. 2023-01 U-space framework applicable (Regulation (EU) 2021/664). Airspace services for drones defined in EU law.6
  2. 2023-09 Remote identification required (14 CFR Part 89). Drones in the United States must broadcast identity and position.5
  3. 2024 Risk assessment method revised (SORA 2.5). Version 2.5 of the specific operations risk assessment.7
  4. 2025-08 Beyond-line-of-sight rule proposed (Proposed Part 108). A proposed rule to normalise routine beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations.1
  5. 2025-11 Canada’s beyond-line-of-sight rules in force. Lower-risk operations beyond visual line of sight and heavier drones.2

Figure 1

Field scene

Figure 1. Drones on an inspection route under a cell site and a sensing radar. A wireframe landscape with a power line on three pylons, a cell tower, a sensing radar with a red halo, a drone dock and two drones in flight linked to the tower.

References

  1. Normalizing unmanned aircraft systems beyond visual line of sight operations (proposed Part 108). United States Federal Aviation Administration, notice of proposed rulemaking, 2025.
  2. Regulations amending the Canadian Aviation Regulations (remotely piloted aircraft systems, beyond visual line-of-sight and other operations). Transport Canada, Canada Gazette Part II, 2025.
  3. 3GPP TS 22.125: Unmanned aerial system support in 3GPP. 3rd Generation Partnership Project, 2022.
  4. Recommendation ITU-R P.453: The radio refractive index (effective Earth radius factor k = 4/3). International Telecommunication Union, Radiocommunication Sector, 2019.
  5. 14 CFR Part 89: Remote identification of unmanned aircraft. United States Federal Aviation Administration, 2021.
  6. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/664 on a regulatory framework for the U-space. Official Journal of the European Union, 2021.
  7. JARUS guidelines on Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) version 2.5. Joint Authorities for Rulemaking on Unmanned Systems, 2024.

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