Methods and Apparatus for Enhancing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Management Using a Wireless Network

A method comprising:

• receiving, by a mobile network function, identification and tracking information associated with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV);
• updating, by the mobile network function, a record associated with the UAV in accordance with identification information of the identification and tracking information;
• and
• providing, by the mobile network function to an unmanned aerial system (UAS) traffic management (UTM) function, the identification and tracking information in accordance with a request received from the UTM.

An unmanned aerial system (UAS) traffic management (UTM), the UTM comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a non-transitory memory storage comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the UTM to:
• receive, from a mobile network function providing UAS management support functionality, an authentication-authorization request including additional UAS management information associated with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV);
• validate the authentication-authorization request thereby producing authorization data associated with the UAV;
• determine information for UAV management including remoted identification and tracking information (RITI);
• and
• transmit, to the mobile network function, an authentication-authorization response including the authorization data associated with the UAV and the information for the UAV management.

A mobile network function comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a non-transitory memory storage comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the mobile network function to:
• receive identification and tracking information associated with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV);
• update a record associated with the UAV in accordance with identification information of the identification and tracking information;
• and
• provide, to an unmanned aerial system (UAS) traffic management (UTM) function, the identification and tracking information in accordance with a request received from the UTM.