As the number of drones in the sky increases, a University of Nebraska researcher wants people to be more at ease with the flying machines.

Brittany Duncan is an assistant professor of computer science and engineering.

She says a lot of factors play into someone’s comfort level with drones.

The National Science Foundation awarded Duncan nearly $550,000 for a five year study to develop drone communication software.

She says the goal is to use a drone’s movement to relay messages to people.

She used the movement of birds to begin developing a communication system.