Software-Defined Radios Enhancing Drone Communication Range

A multi-serial communication radio for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that allows transmitting multiple data links without adding excessive wireless devices and reducing weight, battery life, and interference. The radio has multiple serial port modules, data processing modules, and radio modules connected in series. It converts multi-channel data into single-channel packets, transmits them wirelessly, and converts back to multi-channel at the other end. This allows multiple data links to be sent over a single wireless connection.

Source

Intelligent switching between different versions of UAV data links to enable a single UAV to transmit different narrowband or broadband data over line-of-sight distances. The switching allows making full use of UAV data link bandwidth, improves versatility by carrying multiple link versions, and meets user needs beyond fixed pre-allocated link configurations. The switching is achieved by dynamically changing the intermediate frequency bandwidth and link transmission waveform based on a fixed radio frequency filter. This allows adapting link data transmission requirements and anti-interference capabilities for different communication distances.

Source

Improving wireless communication between drones and ground stations in congested RF environments by having the drones act as access points and isolating uplink traffic to a single resource unit while allowing wider resource units for downlink. This reduces interference and improves reliability compared to channel switching. The drone connects to the ground station using a wireless protocol that divides spectrum into resource units. The drone identifies a single resource unit for uplink and instructs the ground station to transmit there. This isolates uplink traffic and prevents interference from other devices. The downlink uses wider resource units.

Source

Communication method and system for drone clusters that addresses challenges of large numbers of drones communicating simultaneously to prevent interference and improve reliability. The method uses techniques like adaptive power control, error correction coding, collision detection, and time window coordination to optimize communication quality, reduce interference, and handle collisions. It also involves optimizing frequency allocation using graph coloring algorithms and dynamic adjustment.

Source

An RF communication system for mini drones that enables long-term missions by extending battery life. The system uses OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) modulation for data transmission. OFDM allows higher data rates over shorter distances compared to traditional modulation techniques. This reduces the power consumption of the RF transmitter and receiver on the drone, allowing longer flight times. The OFDM implementation is based on FFT (fast Fourier transform) calculations and orthogonal quadrature signals.

Source

Airborne integrated multimode communication system that improves spectrum utilization, reduces hardware requirements, and simplifies message handling for aircraft with multiple communication modes. The system uses techniques like self-interference suppression, centralized slot allocation, unified message processing, and spectrum sensing to enable simultaneous operation of multiple communication modes without frequency planning or hardware proliferation. It allows efficient sharing of spectrum, resources, and messages across modes. The system uses a unified messaging format, digital self-interference suppression, dynamic slot allocation, and spectrum sensing to enable coexistence of modes with crowded spectrum. It reduces hardware needs by sharing transmission resources using mini-slots. The system also has unified message handling using protocol processing and message merging.

Source

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) air-ground communication device that allows UAVs to relay wireless signals between ground nodes in areas with poor terrain coverage. The device connects to a UAV and has separate radio frequency, baseband, and control modules. It receives wireless signals via the RF module, converts to baseband in the baseband module, and forwards the IP packets to the control module. The control module sends the baseband data back to RF to transmit. This allows the UAV to act as a relay node in a distributed ad-hoc network, extending range and coverage in challenging terrain.

Source

Low-cost communication measurement and control integrated transmission system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that reduces cost and complexity compared to traditional systems. The system uses two antennas on the UAV and a ground station with multiple antennas and switches. It allows simultaneous uplink and downlink communication over a single frequency band, avoiding the need for wide bandwidths and frequency division duplexing. The ground station has a switch, computer, low-latency converter, and RF switches for routing and tracking. This allows using omnidirectional antennas for reliable tracking and lower angular velocities compared to high-gain directional antennas. It also uses a single wireless link for cost savings versus multiple links. The system is more economical for low-speed UAVs with low data rates compared to high-speed systems.

Source

Interworking method between multiple drone communications to provide communication services through multiple communication links between a drone equipped with multiple communication equipment and a ground control device for communication multiplexing. The method involves establishing multiple wireless connections with the ground control device, reporting connection quality, and dynamically changing links based on requests. This allows redundancy and handover between ground control devices using multiple radios on the drone.

Source

Direct communication between a drone and ground station using SD-WAN to replace cloud-based proxies for improved efficiency and reduced cost. The drone has an SD-WAN module on its flight control panel and the ground station runs SD-WAN client software. They are connected over the same virtual network. This allows direct communication between the drone and ground station without needing a cloud server as an intermediary.

Source

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication system that improves reliability in challenging environments using reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS). The system has a ground station, UAV, and mobile terminal. The ground station has RIS communication, the UAV has RIS onboard, and the mobile terminal has RIS storage. RIS adjusts phase, amplitude, and frequency of signals to mitigate blocking and interference. This allows UAVs to transmit signals from remote or obstructed areas with stable quality. RIS on the UAV lets it adapt signals for better communication. RIS on the ground and terminal improve wireless reliability.

Source

Method for improving stability of communication links between unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and ground stations by dynamically selecting the best link from multiple options. The UAV's flight control has a data forwarding protocol that sends data over multiple links like radio, cellular, and satellite. The ground station returns data with link selection commands based on analysis. The UAV's flight control selects the optimal link based on the command to ensure reliable and stable communication.

Source

Optimizing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication by dynamically selecting the best transmission mode based on channel conditions. The method involves determining the channel type between the UAV and a ground station based on factors like distance and signal quality. For line-of-sight conditions with poor multipath, it uses single-antenna transmission. For close-range indoor conditions with rich multipath, it uses multi-antenna MIMO transmission. This adaptive selection ensures maximum gain and reliability in all scenarios, avoiding limitations of fixed transmit/receive configurations.

Source

Method for efficiently operating multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in a limited frequency band dedicated to controlling UAVs in national airspace. The method involves dynamically allocating and managing the limited frequency resources for UAV control, allowing recovery and reuse of frequencies after operation. This supports efficient operation of multiple UAVs in a limited band versus fixed allocation. The method involves initial channel setup between ground station and UAV using manual or automatic methods.

Source

An integrated onboard and ground radio station apparatus for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that enables simultaneous transmission of control and mission data on UAV's dedicated license frequency bands. The integrated design allows compact implementation of UAV-mounted and ground-based radios for both control and mission communication on the same frequency bands. This provides a single radio solution for UAVs that can operate on both control and mission frequencies, avoiding the need for separate radios for each purpose. The integrated design enables miniaturization and easier implementation on small UAVs compared to separate control and mission radios.

Source

Combined communication system for drones that uses multiple transmission channels like 5G, WiFi, satellite, etc. to provide reliable and low-latency communication between the drone and ground station. The system has a sky terminal on the drone and a ground terminal on the ground. Both terminals connect to the internet via separate channels. They register with a cloud platform and establish connections. The drone sends data via its channels to the cloud, which forwards to the ground. The ground sends data directly to the drone. The terminals merge data from their channels into one path for the drone and ground. This ensures communication even if one channel fails.

Source

Compact, lightweight communication device for LTE networks that integrates the core network, baseband processing, radio frequency, and trunking functions into a single device. The device has a computer, software radio board, and RF component connected together. This allows miniaturization and weight reduction compared to traditional LTE equipment with separate components. The software radio board digitizes RF signals close to the antenna and controls the RF component via software. This enables a smaller, lighter, and more power-efficient communication device that can be used in applications like drones where weight and size are critical.

Source

Frequency band adaptive UAV communication system that improves robustness, transmission rate, and anti-interference performance of UAV communication. The system uses multiple RF communication modules working in different frequency bands on both the UAV and remote control terminals. A microcontroller in each terminal switches between the frequency bands based on parameters like signal strength, error rate, and distance to optimize performance and avoid interference.

Source

Method for communication between an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) that dynamically balances data transmission between licensed and unlicensed frequency bands based on signal strength to optimize performance and reduce energy consumption. The UAV and UGV automatically adjust the proportion of data distribution between licensed and unlicensed networks based on signal quality. This allows efficient and reliable transmission by leveraging both networks. When licensed network quality is good, more data is sent over licensed. If unlicensed quality is better, more data is sent over unlicensed. This balances the tradeoff between higher licensed reliability vs lower unlicensed delay.

Source

TS-ALOHA-based UAV measurement and control cellular communication method that uses cellular networks instead of point-to-point or satellite communications for UAVs. The method leverages TS-ALOHA (Time Slot ALOHA) protocol in cellular networks to enable UAVs to transmit and receive data over cellular networks. This allows UAVs to communicate over longer ranges compared to point-to-point radios, and avoids the high cost and limited capacity of satellite terminals. The method involves UAVs transmitting requests to access cellular resources using TS-ALOHA, and the base station granting access slots to successfully received requests. This allows multiple UAVs to share cellular resources using TS-ALOHA collisions and random access slots.

Source