Broadcast Module or Standard Remote ID: Which One Your Aircraft Actually Needs

Older drones need remote ID to fly legally, and the FAA offers three paths to compliance: fly a remote ID-equipped aircraft, attach a broadcast module, or fly within visual line of sight in a recognized ID area (FRIA). But owners often get it wrong, thinking a retrofit broadcast module is usually what they need, when most older airframes can’t use that option and could breach the rules—even unintentionally.

The FAA’s Remote ID final rule, published on April 21, 2021, mandates the remote identification of unmanned aircraft. Any owner or manufacturer of a standard Remote ID drone must ensure that it is designed and produced to meet the requirements of 14 CFR Part 89. Meanwhile, a Remote ID broadcast module can be added to a drone originally produced without built-in Remote ID capabilities, enabling it to meet the requirement. FAA guidance specifies that attaching the broadcast module may involve a separate device on the aircraft or a built-in feature.

What the FAA Made Mandatory

When the FAA published its Remote ID final rule in April 2021, it established a compliance problem for a large number of existing drones - unmanned aircraft produced without built-in remote identification capability. With most commercial drones, remote ID must now be designed into the aircraft’s systems, or else an owner must add a remote ID module to the drone for it to be legal to fly.

The rule itself spells out what such a drone needs to broadcast - mainly, position, velocity and last-observed points, plus the craft’s identification number,. This information allows authorities to identify and monitor unmanned aircraft. For a standard Remote ID drone and a retrofit-based Remote ID module, the broadcasting responsibilities are spelled out in 14 CFR Part 89, with at least one broadcast per second required. Part 89 also requires that the position information must be broadcast within 1.0 seconds of measurement. Part 15, meanwhile, covers the radio frequency spectrum used for the ID information.

How to Tell Which Path an Aircraft is On

What FAA guidance recognizes are three very different ways an aircraft may come into compliance, only two of which involve a UA ID broadcast of details:

• Some drones were produced with built-in Remote ID capability, while others require a module to comply.

The FAA defines a standard Remote ID drone as any unmanned aircraft produced with built-in FAA Remote ID broadcast capabilities. A drone then legally incorporates Remote ID when it is designed with the transmitting capabilities in its factory manufacture. The FAA in turn has specified that, when these are produced, they must be compliant with 14 CFR Part 89. Remote ID broadcast modules and standard Remote ID drones must be designed and produced to meet these requirements.

A Retrofit Path - the FAA Enables Retrofitting Existing UAV.

This is the retrofit path for drones that were being flown when Remote ID came into effect—provision permitting the UAV to have a retrofitted Remote ID broadcast module attached to it.

Guides from the FAA indicate that the retrofit capability allows owners to get older drones back to a legal status, provided all the correct steps are undertaken. [1][3] cites FAA guidance stating that a broadcast module may be a separate device attached to an unmanned aircraft or a feature built into the aircraft. [1, FAA guidance indicates that a drone operating with a Remote ID broadcast module must be operated within visual line of sight at all times.

What the Module Has to Do

The most likely path for getting a drone remotely identifiable was not adding a Remote ID module to its system. [FACT][VERIFY, Instead, drone manufacturers produced their own standard Remote ID models to meet the 14 CFR parts, other UAS ID drone makers specified in the recent FAA ID rule. When an added Remote ID module is affixed to a drone, it needs to be compliant with all the requirements. These include determining the take-off location,

broadcasting within one second, starting a self-test before takeoff, continuous testing, and operation within Part 89 and Part 15.

Module compliance covers its specification to use a non-proprietary broadcast specification, as well as a radio frequency spectrum compatible with personal wireless devices under the 47 CFR part 15.

What It Broadcasts, and What Changes for the Pilot

According to Federal Aviation Administration materials, a Remote ID broadcast module broadcasts the drone’s identification and location information, plus its take-off location. So although equipment specs suggest that broadband is not just required under the FAA Remote ID rule, the bundling can avoid breaching FAA rules.

[Owners need to know how to fit it as an attachment, or check that it’s properly factory-fitted. However, for the owner operating with a Remote ID broadcast module, [1] indicates that a drone must now be operated within visual line of sight at all times.

The Exception Path

FAA guidance also lists a different exception path - the FAA Recognized Identification Area (FRIA) - where a remote ID compliant drone isn’t necessary, nor a retrofitted Remote ID broadcast module. While the FRIA used to be the only compliance path for operating a drone in remote ID, the Federal Aviation Administration notes, stakeholders were concerned that. [FACT][VERIFY.

What the Article Should Not Overclaim

Instead, what's common is - and even then, whether that's because they're classified in some lookup, or they're declared to be pre-ID production, or some other schedule.

And this decision point applies

How to Tell Where Your Aircraft Lands

Owners need to know that the decision point is not whether to choose high cost retrofitting, but whether the aircraft is on a standard Remote ID path, or will need retrofitting to get to a legal flight. The decision point for each aircraft is whether the drone came off the factory line with Remote ID capability already built into it - any UAS already equipped with Remote ID capability is compliant as is, and thus doesn't need the separate module. That's immediately important to owners, because it means that very few older airframes on the market are really eligible for retrofitting. Only drones manufactured without built-in Remote ID capability can use a retrofit Remote ID broadcast module, and not all broadcast modules fit all manufacturers. According to one owner, "the remote ID manufacturer support page should specify which drones their module will attach to, and they'll be able to provide the mounting instructions, which the CA document should also spell out. And only when that's done are they really in Remote ID compliance." The rest, however, are in breach, because once the regulation comes into force, no additional tools will be provided to drone owners to upgrade their drones.

The exception is, as noted, the FRIA path, which can coincide; It will probably be a majority of aircraft, especially for hobbyists with any airframe that pre-dates the September 2023 transitional period on receiving UAS ID firmware.

There is potential for CA stewarding programmes to help validate UAS identity. So if drones are going to be checked at this point for remote ID capability, what are the going to see exactly?