Consumer drones may be better suited for short-range radio remote control, but long-range delivery drones often use cellular networks to communicate with operators. New mobile network systems may greatly improve the reliability of the latter method.
the drone simply Not enough Due to the network coverage at various points in the flight, the aircraft is able to access multiple cell towers simultaneously and is frequently switching between network cells, resulting in frequent disconnections. It is believed that there are
Additionally, scientists at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications have discovered that there may be problems with the communication protocols that regulate the flow of cellular data between drones and their operators.
With these limitations in mind, Fraunhofer worked with partners such as German drone manufacturers Wingcopter and Emqopter to develop what is known as the SUCOM network.
Reportedly, even with fluctuating data rates, the drone will be able to stay connected with the operator via the cellular network. This means that important real-time information such as flight direction, altitude, speed and GPS coordinates are continuously available.
“For comparison, we equipped the drone with a commercially available LTE system and a SUCOM mobile network module with the new communication protocol,” says Fraunhofer scientist Tom Piechota. “With the previous module, the connection was prone to dropouts, but with the SUCOM module, I got a stable connection. Thanks to the new protocol, the connection is so stable that it never drops out.”
Team members also flew SUCOM-equipped drones over a remote 14 km (9 miles) wide cell phone “dead spot” in Germany, making it impossible to lose communication with the aircraft at any point during the flight. There was no
The technology is already being used in medical delivery drones in Malawi. The aircraft autonomously flies over rough terrain up to 25 miles (40 km) at a time, allowing remote operators to monitor flight information at all times.and the cellular connection do The drone is also equipped with a satellite communication system.
Source: Fraunhofer, SUCOM
