United States

The FAA’s Remote ID rule (14 CFR Part 89) defines three ways to comply: a Standard Remote ID aircraft, flying inside an FAA-Recognized Identification Area (FRIA), or fitting a remote identification broadcast module — the category DRIFT falls into. Broadcast-only operation with no network/internet connection is fully sufficient; Part 89 has no network-RID operating requirement.

Applicability

  • Applies to unmanned aircraft required to be registered under Part 89 that are not otherwise Standard Remote ID-equipped and not flown exclusively within a FRIA.
  • A broadcast module attaches to an existing aircraft; it does not need to be built in, and fitting one does not require the aircraft to meet any other Standard RID equipment requirement.
  • No network Remote ID alternative exists in the US rule — broadcast (or FRIA, or Standard RID) are the only three paths.

(14 CFR §89.115(a))

Timeline

Date Event
2021-04-21 Broadcast modules may not be produced unless they meet an FAA-accepted Means of Compliance (§89.520)
2022-08-11 FAA accepts ASTM F3586-22 as a Means of Compliance (87 FR 49520)
2022-09-16 Standard RID production deadline (enforcement discretion on broadcast-module production noncompliance through 2022-12-16, 87 FR 55685)
2023-09-16 Operator compliance deadline (§89.105); enforcement discretion through 2024-03-16 (88 FR 63518)

Required messages & fields

§89.315 lists the complete, exhaustive set a broadcast module must be capable of broadcasting — this maps directly onto ASTM F3411’s Basic ID, Location/Vector, and System messages:

Requirement ASTM message Field Notes
Serial number, ANSI/CTA-2063-A Basic ID IDType = Serial Number, UASID No session-ID option for broadcast modules — serial number only
UA latitude/longitude Location/Vector Latitude, Longitude  
UA geometric altitude Location/Vector AltitudeGeo  
Velocity Location/Vector SpeedHorizontal (and, for wire-format completeness, SpeedVertical, Direction) §89.315(d) says “velocity” without further specifying horizontal/vertical/track breakdown
Take-off location latitude/longitude/altitude System OperatorLatitude, OperatorLongitude, OperatorAltitudeGeo with OperatorLocationType = Takeoff There is no live control-station/pilot-position field for broadcast modules — take-off location is the only location-of-operator proxy defined
UTC time mark of the position source Location/Vector TimeStamp  

(14 CFR §89.315, §89.320(a))

Performance floor

Parameter Requirement
Message rate ≥ 1 message/second
Latency ≤ 1.0 s from measurement to broadcast
UA position accuracy ≤ 100 ft (95%)
UA altitude accuracy ≤ 150 ft (95%)
Take-off location position/altitude accuracy Same as above

(14 CFR §89.320(h))

Transports

§89.320(g) is transport-agnostic: it requires only a non-proprietary, documented broadcast specification on license-free ISM-band spectrum (47 CFR Part 15), designed to maximize receivable range. No specific PHY is named, and there is no requirement to run more than one transport simultaneously.

The FAA-accepted Means of Compliance, ASTM F3586-22, is an overlay of ASTM F3411-22a (not the earlier F3411-19 edition) — this is the specific edition the US accepted MOC is pinned to. F3411-22a’s broadcast annexes cover Bluetooth 4 legacy advertising, Bluetooth 5 Long Range, Wi-Fi Beacon vendor-IE, and Wi-Fi NAN — all four of DRIFT’s transports are within the accepted MOC’s scope; none is individually mandatory.

The full ASTM F3411-22a/F3586-22 clause text is paywalled; the above is verified against public scope/abstract pages plus ASTM F3586-22’s Notice of Availability. Whether any single transport alone would satisfy the “maximize range” language on its own has not been independently confirmed.

Identity & registration fields

You provide Goes on the wire as Format Where to get it
Device serial number Basic ID message, UASID ANSI/CTA-2063-A-2019 Assigned by the module’s producer/manufacturer — not issued by the FAA

No operator-registration-number broadcast field exists in the US rule — the FAA’s drone registration number is not a Part 89 broadcast requirement. A session ID (privacy-preserving rotating identifier) is permitted for Standard RID aircraft but not for broadcast modules — only the fixed serial number.

Not required

  • Emergency status — required for Standard RID aircraft (§89.305(h)) but absent from the broadcast-module element list entirely.
  • UA type / category-class marking — no US analog to EU-style class marking; UAType is an ASTM wire-format artifact with no substantive CFR requirement behind it.
  • Dual transport (Bluetooth + Wi-Fi simultaneously) — not required; any MOC-recognized transport, or several, satisfies the rule.

Sources

Last verified 2026-09-10.