New Drone Testing Coming to a State Near You?

The government will soon start conducting drone testing across six different states.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas, and Virginia will be home to the new research sites.

Each site will be responsible for testing drones in a different context.

According to the Washington Post, Nevada will research the impact on air traffic control. North Dakota will test data links between drones and controllers. New York will test the sense-and-avoid technologies crucial for keeping drones away from people and other aircraft.

Virginia Tech, which will work with Rutgers University in New Jersey, will examine what happens when drones fail.

In the past drones have mainly been used by the military, but that's changing. The FAA said the new sites will provide valuable information for safely incorporating new drone technology into the nations skies.

"There's many, many really good domestic applications, civil applications, that you don't hear about too much now, but you're going to start hearing about a lot more in the next five years," Dr. John Valasek, professor of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M Aerospace, said.