Drones are increasingly being used in regions where the person controlling them is not present. Traditional remote controllers, on the other hand, have a restricted range, making them unsuitable for these missions. Simple mobile network-based solutions, on the other hand, have so far proven unable to ensure a consistent connection when mobile network loads are high or network coverage is limited. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut, HHI, have collaborated with SUCOM project partners to create a novel mobile network system that may be used to operate drones across great distances and tough terrain.
Autonomous drones that communicate over mobile networks often have unstable connectivity. One cause of disruptions is a lack of network coverage. Experts also believe that drones flying at high altitudes may contact too many cell towers at once and continuously moving between network cells, perhaps resulting in disconnection. Fraunhofer HHI researchers, on the other hand, discovered that the communication protocols used by drones and that restrict the flow of data between the drone and the controller are problematic. If they are not resilient enough to handle variable data rates, some data packets arrive slowly, while others are lost entirely.
As a result, Fraunhofer HHI researchers collaborated with Wingcopter, a Hessian drone manufacturer, Emqopter GmbH, and CiS GmbH to create new communication protocols that are insensitive to jerky data streams. Even if the communication rate changes, the drone remains connected. Position, altitude, flight direction, speed, and other data essential for the compilation of aerial photos may be delivered without interruption—a fundamental necessity for the high safety standards in aviation.
The highest degree of dependability
“For comparison, we outfitted a drone with a commercially available LTE system as well as our SUCOM mobile network module, which supports the new communication protocols,” explains Tom Piechotta, a Fraunhofer HHI scientist. “While the traditional module’s connection kept falling out, the SUCOM module established a steady connection. The connection is so reliable thanks to our new protocols that there are no disruptions.” For the researcher, there is clear evidence that drone interruptions are not entirely due to a lack of network coverage.
The SUCOM mobile network module may also be placed in existing drones: Drones outfitted with the new module, for example, distribute medications, blood supplies, and other important commodities to the populace in Malawi during the rainy season, spanning distances of up to 40 kilometres. They take off from four airfields, each with a “remote pilot” who inputs the current path into the system and determines the waypoints that the drone will follow. It just takes one click to transmit the flight plan to the drone.
The data required for this is delivered to a server in Cape Town, where it is relayed to the SUCOM module and subsequently to the drone’s flying controller. The drone is continually monitored in real time by the remote pilot while in route. The drone also has satellite technology that may be utilised if the DSL connection breaks. If necessary, the drones may also be controlled via a smartphone and a VPN connection.
In 170 milliseconds, you may travel from Malawi to Berlin.
Customizations were made to the server hardware and software to enable fast data transmission between the drone and the server in Cape Town. The connectivity is now so fast that the drones in Malawi can interact in real time with Fraunhofer HHI in Germany. A data packet travels from the drone to Berlin in 170 milliseconds through a mobile communication network via the server in Cape Town.
The SUCOM technology may potentially give greater coverage for isolated German regions. To show this, the research team flew over a big wooded region in northern Brandenburg, one of Germany’s largest network dead spots with a 14-kilometer circle. The flight went off without a hitch. The SUCOM module ensured that the drones never lost contact throughout the flight.
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