I heard this today on the Drone & Sundry YouTube channel. I have not yet heard of a better option, but I will be open to other solutions.
In my view, there must be a reason it has taken a long time to get adoption of this protocol. I think it’s an indication of the speed that the aviation industry improves technology. Regulated change happens slowly. Drones may or may not change this, however, in order to share the air with manned aviation drones will need to start somewhere. ADS-B is the starting point in my opinion.
Why is the FAA transitioning away from radar and towards ADS-B technology?
P.S. Did I mention that weather data is included in the protocol?
Featured image source:
https://www.volpe.dot.gov/air-traffic-systems-operations/air-navigation-and-surveillance/monitoring-skies-with-ads-b
Adrian G. Drummond 