Federal regulators are looking for ways to ensure that drones operating beyond sight — such as delivery drones — stay away from manned aircraft.

A preliminary plan calls for relying on what is known a ADS-B technology, a system planes use to determine and broadcast their location via satellites, which would allow drones to sense manned aircraft and automatically avoid them.

Alphabet has already proposed using a system similar to ADS-B but is less costly, while Amazon has suggested segregating the airspaces between manned aircraft, and different types of drones.

Previously: Amazon releases new drone delivery video (Nov. 30 2015)

Previously: More steps taken toward safe drone integration (Oct. 26 2015)

Previously: Final commercial drone rules expected by next June (Jun. 18 2015)