[ti:Researchers at Virginia Tech Test Drones for FAA Rules] [ar:Jonathan Evans] [al:Technology Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report. [00:05.03]The Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, [00:16.36]has chosen a university town in Virginia [00:19.85]as one of six places to test drones. [00:23.57]Drones are aircraft without human pilots. [00:28.83]A drone can also be called an unmanned aircraft system, or UAS. [00:37.10]The town, Blacksburg, is home to Virginia Tech University. [00:43.58]The university has flown [00:46.96]and researched unmanned aircraft systems for years. [00:50.90]But now, the research has more meaning. [00:55.20]Researchers at Virginia Tech send reports to the FAA [01:00.64]to assist the agency in the development [01:04.31]of national drone rules. [01:07.06]The FAA says most business drones cannot operate legally now. [01:14.14]The agency plans to announce rules [01:17.58]for how drones can share airspace in the United States [01:21.80]with major airplane companies. [01:24.55]The leader of the Blacksburg test center is Rose Mooney. [01:29.97]She says that her researchers are doing new things with UAS. [01:36.21]"UAS can do things that manned aircraft can't. [01:39.55]Our first flight is going to be a larger aircraft [01:41.84]that hasn't been flown unmanned in the national airspace." [01:44.33]Air information sensors are common on manned airplanes. [01:49.42]But researchers at the Virginia Tech University test center [01:54.15]have added a sensor to their drones. [01:57.16]The sensor records air speed and altitude, [02:02.19]the height of the flight. [02:04.08]The information is sent through tubes [02:07.60]to a computer that examines stability. [02:10.89]All of the information is then sent to the FAA. [02:16.12]The federal agency may also rule on another device [02:21.86]to guarantee greater safety. [02:24.30]The device is a special eyewear [02:27.99]that lets a person see the flight [02:30.03]as if he or she is on the drone. [02:33.17]Pilots on the ground can use this view [02:37.26]to better direct the drone and keep it away [02:40.61]from objects in the flight path. [02:43.07]Researcher Justin Stiltner says drones can be used [02:48.64]to do jobs that are uninteresting, dirty or dangerous. [02:53.37]They can fly into areas of radiation, [02:57.41]or inside hurricanes or over croplands to examine corn. [03:03.54]Professor Craig Woosley says farm studies are the main goal. [03:09.71]"We need to do better at how we do agriculture [03:13.55]so we can continue to improve crop yields [03:16.09]and that drives us toward ever more and more technology. " [03:19.34]Rose Mooney thinks using drones is a huge step [03:23.77]forward in the flight industry. [03:26.11]But drone use will not change until the FAA publishes new rules. [03:32.59]And that is not expected to happen until late 2015. [03:38.47]And that's the VOA Learning English Technology Report . [03:44.00]For more technology stories, go to our website 51voa.com. [03:53.36]I'm Jonathan Evans.