SUCOM technology improves cellular connectivity with delivery drones

While short-range radio remote control may be suitable for consumer drones, long-range delivery drones often use cellular networks to communicate with their carriers. The new mobile network system could make the latter method much more reliable.

While it is possible that drones may simply flaw network coverage at various points along its path, it is also believed that since aircraft can access multiple cell towers at the same time, they continue to switch between network cells, resulting in frequent outages.

In addition, scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications in Germany have found that the communication protocols that regulate the flow of cellular data between drones and their operators can be problematic.

With these limitations in mind, Fraunhofer teamed up with partners including German drone makers Wingcopter and Emqopter to develop the so-called SUCOM network.

This reportedly allows drones to stay connected to their carriers via cellular networks even if data rates fluctuate. This means that important real-time information such as flight direction, altitude, speed and GPS coordinates is always available.

“In comparison, we equipped the drone with a commercially available LTE system and our SUCOM mobile network module with new communication protocols,” said Fraunhofer scientist Tom Piechotta. “While the connection that used the regular module kept dropping, the SUCOM module provided a stable connection. Thanks to our new protocols, the connection is so stable that there were no interruptions.”

Team members also flew a SUCOM-equipped drone through a 14 km (9 mi) remote cellular “dead zone” in Germany without losing contact with the aircraft at any stage of the flight.

This technology is already being used by drones to deliver medical supplies to Malawi. Because the drone autonomously flies over rugged terrain up to 40 km (25 miles) at a time, remote operators can track their flight information at any time. And in the event that cellular communication does will not work, the drones are also equipped with a satellite communication system.

Sources: Fraunhofer, SUCOM.

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