NIST sUAS Standard Test Methods

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has developed Test Methods that can be used to objectively evaluate and measure proficiency and control of the aircraft.

Initially intended for public safety departments, this test series is affordable and standardizes training.

ASTM International through their Homeland Security Subcommittee created a Response Robots (E54.09) Report that standardized more than twenty test methods created by NIST. Airborne Public Safety Association (APSA), DroneResponders and the National Fire Protection Association have all adopted this methodology for Public Safety sUAS programs. The NFPA references this in the "Job Performance Requirements" section of the Standard for Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Used for Public Safety Operations (NFPA 2400).

"Emergency response organizations can quantitatively establish reliability and confidence during training before drones and remote pilots are deployed in real-life situations."

Public Safety Early Adopters

What's the best way to incorporate Standard Test Methods into a UAS program?

We recommend those with a desire to incorporate NIST to first watch this video on the FAAsafety.gov website. This is an educational website administered by the FAA Safety Team.

If you don't have an account on FAAsafety.gov, it's free to create! There are a few hundred aviation related courses online, most are free some are sUAS courses, some content was produced by Influential Drones!

We encourage everyone to create a free account and gain access to a free education. Please note that certain subjects and topics require hands on training or more time commitments than sitting through a virtual one hour online course.

This course video can also be found on the Influential Drones YouTube channel. NOTE: You will not get any credit on your FAAsafety.gov account if you watch this video directly on YouTube, bypassing the FAA's website.

Will Influential Drones teach me?

Yes! Influential Drones team members are qualified as Instructors and Proctors for the NIST sUAS Standard Test Methods by the Airborne Public Safety Association. Course instruction blends standards with best practices for manned aviation. Manned aviation content is taught by an FAA Certified Flight Instructor. This extra layer of instruction, further strengthens an organizations commitment towards the operation of a safe sUAS program. We understand some organizations need supervisory approval to keep their programs active. We feel strongly that education helps UAS programs operating in both the public and private sectors.

We have the experience and can help draft standard operating procedure documents, policy documents, training manuals and safety management policies. Offerings include the Basic Proficiency Evaluation for Remote Pilots, Open Lane APSA approved course, and other training programs which incorporate other NIST standard test methods. Group and Individual instruction, onsite instruction and customized training unique to operational needs are all options. Call to learn more, 856-281-7545.

01. How do I get a sUAS Test Course based on NIST Methods?

build your own
buy your own
find a park, school or organization that has a course you can use
we can travel to you: build a course that you can keep or bring our own equipment with us

02. How do I build the Standard into my organization's program?

Update your SOP to refer to the standard and how it will be used.
Update your sUAS Training Manual to identify how operator's will be evaluated
Define what conditions must be satisfied to meet requirements.
You can make the requirements different for Pilots, Visual Observers and other Crew Members.
Get supervisory approval

03. What is an example of wording that could be used in an SOP?

To limit liability on department, ________________, all sUAS crew members are required to annually achieve a passing score on a Basic Proficiency Evaluation for Remote Pilots, Open Lane course administered by an approved APSA proctor / instructor.

This course meets a Standard Test Method for Small Unmanned Systems that was developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST is a division of the U.S. Dept of Commerce. ASTM International through a Homeland Security Subcommittee created the Response Robots (E54.09) Report that further standardized this test. DroneResponders and the National Fire Protection Association adopted this as a national standard referenced in NFPA-2400 (Standard for Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Used for Public Safety Operations) under "Job Performance Requirements." Airborne Public Safety Association, in cooperation with NIST offers a credential in the form of a Certificate. APSA qualifys their proctors and instructors with NIST.

The pass criteria shall minimally be the the same as the qualifying score required by the Airborne Public Safety Association. Pass = 10 min or less with a 80% or greater acuity image score. Upon completion, scores will not be recorded. Instead only: pass/fail, date, time, pilot name, and qualifying examiner. Records will be maintained as an educational record and duplicated in the crew members personal log.

04. What benefit is there in working with an APSA designated proctor (or instructor)?

The Airborne Public Safety Association (APSA) qualifies those that can administer the course through it's train-the-trainer program. Only student's that complete the 3-day class are recognized as a designated proctor by the Airborne Public Safety Association. This course has been approved by both NIST and the Airborne Public Safety Association and is taught by instructors recognized by NIST. Student's who complete the train-the-trainer program three times are qualified also as instructors.

Pass = 10 min or less with a 80% or greater acuity image score.

NOTE: Currently there is no requirement by the FAA for remote pilot operators to take a hands-on proficiency test. This means that any extra effort taken will be viewed as going "above and beyond" in the development of your program. Additionally, being evaluated by a 3rd party qualified instructor or proctor helps with liability validation. Instead of self-certifying under a COA, once a year, a 3rd party can validate pilots and crew members.

This could also help to lesson liability, gain community support, justify a larger operating budget to grow your program, create a safety culture within your flight program, and create more unity and coordination amongst team members.

05. I've been evaluated by an APSA qualified proctor / instructor, how do I get my certificate?

The process is easy! Visit this page on the Airborne Public Safety Association website.

06. What else can I do to further add credentialing to my UAS program?

Require crew members to complete courses on the FAA Safety Team website. Courses for sUAS are available online at no cost. Additional courses not targeted towards UAS specifically are also worth taking. Courses with a focus on: risk, decision making, flight planning, weather, airspace, and human factors are all worth consideration.

01. What is NIST and its purpose?

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is a Federal research laboratory within the U.S. Department of Commerce. Its mission is to promote U.S. Innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life. NIST leads international efforts toward creating critical measurement solutions and promoting equitable standards.

02. Why is it important to have a Standard for Flying a sUAS?

It is analogous to getting a driver’s license for automobiles. Basic skills tests provide some assurance that the pilot is operating safely within the national airspace, and is not a hazard to nearby ground personnel or manned aircraft in the area. These suites of standard test methods provide common measures of performance with quantitative results. They can be conducted individually, in sequences, or embedded into operational training scenarios as repeatable tasks with scores to augment qualitative assessments. Organizations using these tests set their own thresholds of acceptable system and pilot performance to align with their airspace, environment, and mission complexities.

03. What is the Payload Functionality variant of each test?

Think of the Payload in this case as a sensor systems, some of which are interchangeable. There are zoom cameras, or thermal imagers, or both as interchangeable payloads, etc.

The Payload Functionality variant of each test introduces some small amount of operational workload to perform in addition to maneuvering. That is, as you’re paused in front of a bucket (or two) and aligned correctly, then work your system interface to zoom in as far as possible to measure your maximum effective visual acuity including the stability of the aircraft, vibrations, twitchy pointing, digital zoom interface, contrast, focus, etc. The score for visual acuity is separate from the score for maneuvering. The trial time probably increases as well. We advocate 5 minute time limits for Maneuvering trials and 10 minute time limits for Payload Functionality trials. But even that might not be enough if your system is slow or unstable to zoom fully – that’s what you’ll learn by performing the test over and over again and comparing scores with other aircraft or with other pilots who perform better on your same aircraft.

If your aircraft has no zoom capability, or limited zoom, the Payload Functionality variant of each test is not applicable.

The Payload Functionality variant of the tests are also helpful when evaluating other sensors such as thermal imagers. If your system is ready for Payload Functionality tests, then the Point and Zoom Cameras test should be performed first to measure the baseline capability of the system. See the Usage Guide or Forms Book for more information.

04. What is the benefit of this course for fire departments and law enforcement?

These tests can be used to quantitatively evaluate sUAS capabilities to align with various mission tasks. For example, the mission may require a combination of a precise position hold near large structures that might degrade GPS or radio comms while capturing detailed images or applying other sensors like thermal imagers. The measurement of the resulting image acuity is affected by all sorts of system and environmental components. The results of the associated standard test methods help users objective compare performance when operated by an “expert” pilot provided by the manufacturer, presuming that’s the best possible performance for the system. The same tests using the same aircraft can also measure any remote pilot’s proficiency as compared to that “expert” pilot. The standard tests do not identify what “good” performance is, they only describe how to measure performance in a standard way. But any organization can set their own minimum levels of remote pilot proficiency and align each system and pilot to the essential mission tasks required to be successful.

05. What is the benefit of this course for those outside of the public safety industry?

Similar benefits apply to various user groups. The key is that they all reference the exact same standard test methods so their results are comparable. Each user group will have its own specific combination of applicable standard test methods and scenarios with the tests embedded as objective scoring. But various commercial aircraft often get deployed across different mission types with different user groups. So they can learn from each other and leverage performance data when captured in the same standard test methods.

Overtime, this standard test methods will be more widely accepted. Company's that employ Part 107 Remote Pilots, can use this to qualify job candidates, maintain operator proficiency and train for specific flight missions that are otherwise complex without practice. Academic institutions (and other training providers) can use this standardized test for the hands-on portion of their curriculum. Insurance company's may in time give a better rate to those whom practice and maintain currency

06. How can this measure improvement for pilots?

The test methods can be conducted by any individual or group. Anybody can perform a series of trials to capture their own scores. Those scores can be compared to others in their group, to regional/national averages, or to the “expert” pilot provided by the manufactures. This is a simple way of quantitatively measuring everybody’s proficiency in a widely distributed way. The basic circuit training lane called the Open Test Lane has five different flight paths to perform in individually timed trials. They can be completed in either 30 or 60 minutes overall depending on the amount of camera pointing and zooming their system can perform. Everybody tracks their own scores across all the applicable tests. Tracking and averaging scores over time provides a statistically significant measure of your proficiency. The results of different test measure each pilot their strengths and weaknesses on individual aircraft, so can lead toward a more focused training plan for improvement.

07. Where do you see the future of this course going?

The standard test lanes are where everyone should start their training and evaluations. But the same test apparatuses are just as useful to quantify scoring throughout more operationally significant training scenarios. They simply provide a 100 point scoring system using the same targets and techniques practiced in the standard test lanes. They can be used to augment typically qualitative assessments by trainers watching each pilot closely. Also, these standard test methods can provide a quantitative basis for credentialing remote pilots. This is important so pilots can be called on for mutual aid in other jurisdictions. The standard test lanes can be set up concurrently with separate small groups of pilots helping each other as a visual observer and a forms filler to capture scores. After all have conducted the circuit training trials, they can then “attest” to each other’s scores like golfers do in tournaments. The tests require capturing images of each bucket alignment so the results can also be scored after the trial at any time by the Proctor or others, and saved along with the form as documentation of the trial outcomes supporting the resulting credential. These credentials can be general, or specific to individual aircraft classes, like a commercial driver’s license. Or they can be specific to the particular environment or mission profiles such as for operations beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) or at night.

08. Does NIST provide training or certifications of any KIND?

No, NIST does not train or certify anybody. NIST develops and validates test methods that get adopted through standards development organizations such as ASTM International, NFPA, and others. These test methods are used by others to evaluate system performance or remote operator/pilot proficiency.

NIST’s test method development process starts by gathering requirements from emergency responders and public safety organizations, along with a variety of Federal and military stakeholders. NIST then develops the underlying measurement science and related test methods to objectively evaluate key system capabilities. This process typically includes hosting exercises to validate the tests with robot manufactures and responders at their training facilities, conferences, or competitions. The test methods also get replicated by a wide variety of users nationally and internationally to ensure they can be easily sourced and fabricated, and implemented correctly. This ensures that the test methods are “reproducible” at various locations and that the results are comparable, which is an essential step in the standardization process. This also ensures that the resulting standard test methods are useful to the widest audience of emergency responders and others, such as industrial, commercial, and even recreational users from other domains.