Planning the Skies: 6 Considerations for Local Governments Planning Multi-Mission Drone Infrastructure
Commercial and governmental applications for drones continue to see growing adoption as UAV technology expands its airborne capabilities and reaches further over the horizon. UAVs are able to conduct many of the tasks that once required extensive manpower, doing those chores faster, more safely, and more accurately. As electric vehicles, deploying drones for tasks currently conducted by internal combustion vehicles also has the added benefit of lowering fleet CO2 emissions for a greener workflow.
In recent years, the general public has become accustomed to seeing drones assisting first responders, inspecting power transmission lines, or conducting last-mile retail drone delivery. Most often, though, these missions are currently conducted by a single drone pilot with a small portable UAV. For operations to truly scale and realize maximum return on government investment, the drone systems must satisfy diverse roles from drone-as-first-responder (DFR) duties to environmental assessment flights, traffic oversight to building and development inspections. Such an operation also requires a purpose-built fleet of UAVs with varied payloads. Most importantly, these drone assets need to be able to deploy across vast regions, making a network of drone docks a key piece of public infrastructure in the future.
Unlocking the true potential of drones with multi-mission systems requires strategic, future-forward planning that often starts at the local government level. So, here we’ll explore some of the key considerations for local governments looking to set themselves up for success as they plan and build the necessary infrastructure to support such dynamic multi-mission drone networks.
1. Define Clear Goals for Drone Services
The inaugural step in designing a regional drone services plan is to establish why it is being created. What are the key duties with which UAVs will help? Often, these top-line goals can consist of improving workplace safety and, generally, streamlining public services.
For instance, inspection of public utilities, water resources, etc., can easily be automated with aerial drones and smart AI-assisted software, which keeps personnel from having to navigate potentially dangerous areas. Drone systems can also streamline operations for search and rescue in public parks and wilderness areas while keeping first responders at a safe distance.
Drone services can also improve public services by reducing the manpower needed to conduct routine inspections of water towers, electric transmission lines, or winding waterways and reservoirs supplying public drinking water. They can speed the delivery of life-saving medical supplies or quickly deliver supplies to remote areas.
While the initial focus of this analysis will likely be on “must-have” services that can be better delivered by drones, either for safety or efficiency reasons, it is also important to ensure the infrastructure is future-proofed for anticipated scale. Once the mission-critical drone services are established, it becomes very easy to add new drones to the fleet outfitted for a variety of other tasks. So, planning a dock network and drone ecosystem that will accommodate as many use cases as possible, with the range and payload capacity needed for all tasks, will help ensure the best return on investment.
It is also valuable at this early stage to consider local commercial entities and their potential use of unmanned aerial assets in the future. Often, public-private partnerships can become an invaluable opportunity to work jointly on elements of the necessary public drone infrastructure.
Defining a clear scope of mission will help guide technical design, partnerships, and public policy decisions.
2. Establish a Strategy for Airspace Management
Unlike ground vehicles, drones do not follow the paved roadways. Where, when, and how drones can operate in the low-altitude airspace will be defined by federal regulatory agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States or the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) throughout Europe. Demonstrating to these regulatory agencies that a local drone network can do so safely will necessitate a concrete airspace management plan.
This strategy will likely include:
Establishing designated flight paths for routine and repeatable missions
Designating “no-fly zones” around sensitive infrastructure (military bases, schools, high-traffic outdoor spaces, prisons, etc.)
Measures for inter-operational communications to ensure the other drones, as well as manned civil and commercial air traffic, are all aware of each other
Coordinating across municipal or county lines to deconflict airspace
It is important to remember that the low-altitude airspace in which drones operate is a public space and needs to be safely shared with everyone.
3. Understand the National Regulatory Requirements & Plan for the Future
The FAA and EASA have established comprehensive regulatory frameworks for commercial drone operations. Both agencies, and those similar throughout the world, will seek to establish that the drone missions for which you are seeking permission can be conducted safely, minimizing risk to people and property on the ground as well as other aircraft operating in the area. They will similarly look to ensure the aircraft you will be operating meet their respective operational safety criteria. The airspace management plan discussed earlier will be a key component of this process.
Understanding all of the national regulations for commercial drone operations in your region will be important, but it is also valuable to anticipate how your national airspace regulator is going to evolve those rules in the near future. For example, in the United States, the FAA is currently moving towards an expansion of the current rules (known as Part 107) to establish more formalized processes and guidelines for beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) commercial operations that will enable drone delivery and other drone service operations to scale.
For more details on the regulatory framework for commercial drone delivery in the United States, check out our recent blog post, “Drone Delivery Reality Check: Current US Allowances and Preparing for The Next Level of BVLOS Deliveries.”
4. Design Physical Infrastructure Thoughtfully
Expanding from single-use drone missions, like police equipped with a video drone that travels in the trunk of a cruiser, to a multi-mission drone fleet not only requires specialized aircraft, but ground-based infrastructure to support them.
Some of this physical infrastructure includes:
Landing zones and facilities to house and maintain a drone fleet
Drone docks and/or charging stations like our A2Z AirDocks that automate charging and enable an endless service area for drone services
A Remote Operations Center (ROC) from which a single pilot can manage an entire fleet of drones conducting simultaneous missions
Additionally, digital infrastructure is also needed to support safe and reliable fleet operations. Digital resilience is just as important as physical infrastructure. While some of these elements are likely already in operation in your area, the added digital load from BVLOS fleet operations may necessitate strengthening the digital infrastructure.
Some of these priority digital infrastructure elements include:
Secure and consistent communications networks (such as 4G/5G connectivity and mesh radio networks)
Cloud-based unmanned traffic management systems (UTM)
Cybersecurity systems to prevent hacking or signal interference
When laying out a long-term plan for physical and digital infrastructure, a map of the anticipated service area is often a great place to start. Identifying key locations such as police and fire stations, public utilities, known obstructions, potential no-fly zones, etc., will help you ultimately design the ideal dock network to support multi-mission services.
With an overview of all of these assets, it becomes easier to envision the various drone services that will operate on the network, and strategically plan phased rollouts of infrastructure, as well as how the ecosystem will scale.
5. Anticipate Local Policy and Legal Needs
Comprehensively planning for the rollout of local drone services also means working within, or amending, local statutes and ordinances. Establishing public policies that will ensure safe operations can deliver the best results for the general public.
Some areas to keep in mind during this planning phase are:
Your patchwork of local zoning codes, and ensuring that deploying drone services will be accommodated.
Policies for privacy protections are also invaluable to define data collection and retention rules.
Establish clear liability policies that protect operators, residents, and property owners.
Outline procedures to ensure public engagement in the development and rollout of the drone service network that brings residents and taxpayers into the process. This is not just best practice for transparency in government, but educating people on the technology and its benefits will pay dividends further down the road.
6. Partner for Innovation and Cost Sharing
One of the unique elements of deploying a multi-mission drone infrastructure is it can easily be shareable. It can be shared between multiple government departments, multiple agencies, or even licensed to local enterprises. Just as public investment in our modern systems of highways and byways has generated massive economic reward, so too will investing in the public infrastructure of the skies.
Cities like Dallas-Fort Worth and Winston-Salem have already created testbeds for urban drone integration, offering useful blueprints for others to follow.
Final Thoughts: Planning for the Sky Means Planning for People
Establishing a drone support infrastructure is no longer merely a novelty —it will enable us to reimagine how cities, counties, and states best serve their people. Local governments have the unique opportunity to shape this transformation in a way that enhances public services, ignites commercial drone applications to unlock new economies, and preserves the low-altitude airspace for the common good.
With some smart planning and plenty of foresight, building a multi-mission drone network is very much within reach. We know, because we operate such a network around our BVLOS test facility, where autonomous patrol, first responder support drones, and local last-mile retail delivery are a daily reality.
Case Study: Urban Autonomous Drone Infrastructure for Patrol, Search and Rescue Support