The project addresses the need for a new set of flight rules — digital flight rules (DFR) — to safely integrate emerging aviation technologies such as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) including remotely piloted aerial systems (RPAS), vertical capable aircraft (VCA), and innovative air mobility (IAM) flights into shared airspace. Current flight rules (VFR/IFR) were designed for manned aviation, and are not scalable or suitable for highly automated or remotely piloted operations.

DiFeRent proposes a novel, interoperable, and automation-ready regulatory framework built around flight rules that take advantage of modern digital technologies, hence DFR. DFR will complement existing flight rules while enabling safe, efficient, and equitable access for all aircraft types, a crucial step in the evolution of the overall ICAO framework to support a highly automated ATM environment.