With a Congressional deadline for a plan on integrating unmanned aerial systems (UAS) into the nation's airspace just weeks away, acting FAA administrator Michael Huerta said he is confident that his agency will be able to get drones fully integrated into the civil aviation world within three years. And, he said, the agency will be sure to protect the safety and privacy of citizens in the process—while paving the way for a new aviation industry to boom.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to move integration for all UAS forward," Huerta said in his address to the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International conference in Las Vegas. "But I’m very, very optimistic that we will get there.” Unmanned aircraft under 55 pounds are due to be cleared for flight by 2014 under the FAA's most recent funding legislation, and larger systems by 2015. Huerta said that the industry should "rest assured that the FAA will fulfill its statutory obligations" to meet those deadlines.

Huerta's comments came during a keynote speech at an unmanned aircraft industry expo. He outlined three areas that remain as the biggest hurdles to the licensing of commercial drones. The first is setting standards for UAS pilot training, to assure that there's a common standard for licensing drone operators. The other two are significant technical challenges: ensuring that drones can sense and avoid obstacles as well as other aircraft, and that they can continue to fly safely if they lose communications with their ground stations.

The US Army finished initial testing of a solution to the sensing problem last month, demonstrating a ground-based radar system that can be used as part of the flight control system for drones, providing situational awareness of other aircraft and obstacles in their path. The Army plans to deploy that system at five bases across the US in the next three years to allow MQ-1C Grey Eagle drone squadrons to train in unrestricted airspace.

Meanwhile, the FAA is now considering six sites to test the integration of drones into local air traffic to help gather data that will guide the eventual regulations for full certification of UAS operation in civil airspace. "We've gotten a lot of interest on the six test sites," Huerta told AUVSI attendees, "and I think we are very close to choosing."