在NASA研究的最后一年，城市生活等待着无人机

城市生活有它的挑战。人群、交通、受天气影响的行人……以及无人机——也被称为无人驾驶飞机系统(UAS)，在不久的将来，它们将在我们的城市面临一些同样的挑战。到2020年，美国注册的小型商用无人机将多达40万架，另有约200万架用于娱乐用途。从中心地带的农场到城市地区，许多那些对人们来说太脏或太危险的工作已经出现在无人机领域。特别是在城市环境中，将有必要保持所有的活动在空中安全顺利地运行。

未来几个月，NASA将在内华达州里诺市和德克萨斯州科珀斯克里斯蒂市进行小型无人机的实地演示。这将完成该机构的技术测试，这些技术可以成为安全管理无人机交通系统的一部分。

City life has its challenges. The crowds, the traffic, pedestrians at the mercy of the weather … and drones – also known as unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, which will face some of the same challenges in our cities in the near future. By 2020, there could be as many as 400,000 commercial small UAS registered in the United States, along with some two million for recreational use. Many jobs – those too dirty or dangerous for people – are already emerging for drones, everywhere from farms in the heartland to the urban areas. Especially in an urban environment, there will be a need to keep all that activity in the air running safely and smoothly.

NASA is conducting field demonstrations of small drones navigating urban landscapes in Reno, Nevada, and Corpus Christi, Texas, during the next few months. This will complete the agency’s testing of technologies that can be part of a system to safely manage drone traffic.

Credits: NASA/Maria Werries