Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) can revolutionize the study of the atmosphere, but their routine application for studying and surveilling the atmosphere requires careful consideration of the public response to such proposed use in the United States (US) national airspace system. The Public Policy Center will help CLOUD-MAP project researchers understand likely public reactions to large-scale implementation of UASs over the US and how these attitudes might be affected by different forms of technological and policy responses, and by different forms of public engagement.
Understanding potential facilitators and resistance to UAS adoption and how to best respond to public values and concerns is vital for ensuring that UAS technology is developed responsibly and results in useful and usable technologies. Important topics that this project will focus on include: gauging attitudes toward UAS systems and UAS policies, preferences and willingness to pay for UASs, attitudes toward intended uses for UAS technology, and hurdles to implementation of UAS technology—especially in the area of use of UAS technology for monitoring and measuring weather and atmospheric events. We also will examine if and how these public attitudes are impacted by different policy and technological responses, and if and how the attitudes change over time. The focus of this task has broad applicability to the project as a whole, and the resulting findings will inform best practices for the execution of other project tasks.
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