While everyone from retailers to farmers is considering how to use drones in their day-to-day operations, federal aviation officials are exploring avenues to help relax the tight regulations that currently govern the technology.

Hoping to help achieve more relaxed regulations is the state of Kansas in collaboration with an Overland Park engineering firm Black & Veatch. Conducting their investigation alongside the Kansas Department of Transportation, the team joins several other pilot sites selected throughout the country to determine if looser regulations are a possibility for drone use in rural areas.

“As drones become more mainstream with their versatility, these projects in Kansas and elsewhere are key in testing all applications of these unmanned aircraft systems and, if successful, may ease airspace rules for everyone's betterment," said Jamare Bates, head of Black & Veatch's unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAS, operations.

Among the details being tested will be operating drones beyond the line of sight of the pilot, which is currently forbidden by the Federal Aviation Administration. Additionally, the tests will also determine how drones might aid infrastructure inspection as well as improving agricultural precision in terms of using pesticides, fertilizer and seeds.

"A drone's promise of giving a bird's eye view of any problematic area of cropland — and getting (drone)-delivered treatment for it — comes at a time when producers face mounting pressure to meet food demand," according to a recent press release.