EUROCAE WG73 UAS. The European Organization for Civil Aviation Equipment established WG73 UAS in March 2007. It is organized into four sub-groups:

• SG1 - Operations
• SG2 - Airworthiness
• SG3 - Command, Control, Communications, Spectrum & Security
• SG4 - Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) operations. SG4 also includes UA with a maximum take off weight (MTOW) of less than 150kg, which are a national (as opposed to EASA) certification responsibility within the European Union

Current work (Feb 2009) is focused on the third deliverable of the group which is a document proposing concepts for UAS operations, airworthiness and several other related issues. WG73 is also preparing for the application of the ED78A process to develop standards for collision avoidance (and closely related subjects) and command and control. See www.eurocae.eu.

RTCA SC 203. Special Committee 203 of RTCA was established some 4 years ago to develop standards for the USA Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) in the areas of Operations, Sense & Avoid and Command & Control. SC203 has working groups addressing each of these three areas. In addition, there is a matrix management structure, the Systems Engineering Integration Team (SEIT) which is leading the application of the DO264 process for the development of the required standards. SC203 has recently released a draft of the Operational Services and Environment Description (Definition) and is now focusing on a data collection exercise to establish operational and technical baselines.

ASTM F38. F38 is aggressively pursuing the development of a range of standards relevant to UAS. In many cases, standards designed for manned aviation can apply directly, or with some modification, to UAS. In other areas, new standards are required. F38 has already published several UAS standards and is understood to be preparing to release several more. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been agreed between the FAA and ASTM F38 for the development of standards to support the development of regulations for light unmanned aircraft, believed to be those of less than 25kg/55lb maximum take off weight (MTOW)