Could a Community Drone Detection Network Bolster Airspace Safety?

As more UAVs take to the skies, SkySafe is launching FliteGrid to help the community track them.

Jack Daleo

Tuesday, November 18, 2025 at 11:30 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

FliteGrid participants will use sensors to track drones in exchange for rewards. [Credit: SkySafe]

Key Takeaways:

The FAA struggles to track the vast number of drones, despite the new Remote ID rule, due to a lack of infrastructure for collecting the broadcast data.
SkySafe has launched FliteGrid, a community-powered, decentralized network designed to fill this infrastructure gap and enable nationwide drone detection.
Individuals can participate by purchasing a FliteGrid sensor to collect drone Remote ID data, earning points that will later be convertible into virtual $FLITE tokens.
The data collected will enhance SkySafe's intelligence platform for governments, enterprises, and critical infrastructure, contributing to a safer and more transparent national drone traffic management system.

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According to drone detection and forensics provider SkySafe, there are too many drones in U.S. skies for the FAA alone to track them.

Per the agency, there are more than 820,000 FAA-registered drones—more than half for commercial purposes—as of July. That does not include recreational drones weighing below 0.55 pounds, which do not need to be registered. To improve oversight, the FAA in 2024 began enforcing its remote identification rule, requiring drones to be equipped with digital license plates that broadcast location, speed, altitude, and other data.