Take a look at this:

http://www.cropcam.com/

Now granted, this company (Micropilot) is in Canada and things are a bit different up there, but there are a number of people who are using this UAV for legitimate agricultural uses. There are also a number of law enforcement units that want to fly the Cyberbug (http://www.proxygen.com/36/Editorial...list_type=name) to provide video surveillance, etc. Unfortunately, if they are doing it in this country (some are, actually), then what they are doing is currently against FAA "policy." However, the FAA realizes that flying something like this for a legitimate purpose needs to be possible in this country. At the same time, they need to protect the manned aircraft - which are the primary users of the National Airspace.

They (the FAA), are currently working on a new "flight authorization instrument," as they call it, that will allow vehicles like the CropCam and Cyberbug to be operated in the National Airspace System. I believe the desire is to have this new "instrument" in place within the next few years. I would anticipate that it will require some sort of aircraft certification and pilot qualification, but hopefully that will be much less than the Experimental Category Airworthyness Certificate and Private Pilots License and 3rd class Medical that are now required.

That, and the fact that you can (as we do), work on UAV development if you can find a restricted airspace where you can fly your UAVs, means that a forum where that work and those vehicles can be discussed is not only "allowed" but valuable.

Bob