NASA building traffic control system for drones

New York: NASA is developing a drone traffic management programme that would work as a separate air traffic control system for drones flying low to the ground at 400 to 500 feet.

Unlike a normal air traffic control room, the drone traffic control will be fully automated, the New York Times reported.

The work on the traffic control system for drones is underway near Moffat Field in California.

"One [drone] at a time you can make them work and keep them safe. But when you have a number of them in operation in the same airspace, there is no infrastructure to support it," Parimal H. Kopardekar, a NASA principal investigator was quoted as saying.

The system would make sure drones do not run into buildings or helicopters.

The NASA system will use computers and algorithms to figure out where the drones can fly.