An Exhaustive Study of Using Commercial LTE Network for UAV Communication in Rural Areas

TL;DR

This paper investigates the reliability and communication characteristics of using commercial LTE networks for UAVs in rural areas, focusing on signal quality, handovers, and speed effects during low-altitude flights.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of LTE network performance for UAV communication in rural settings, highlighting factors affecting signal quality and handover frequency.

Findings

Higher elevation improves signal quality and reduces handovers.

Increased UAV speed slightly degrades communication performance.

LTE networks are suitable for UAV command, control, and data transfer in rural areas.

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been increasingly used in a wide area of military and civilian applications such as data collection and monitoring. A reliable network for command and control, communication, and data transfer is crucial, not only for mission purposes but also for safety concerns. The already deployed cellular networks are appropriate candidates for UAV communication given the solid security and wide coverage of these networks. However, the reliability of such networks needs a comprehensive investigation. In this paper, we use the long-term evolution (LTE) network as the infrastructure for drone communication and data transfer, in a rural area. We study the communication characteristics of an LTE-connected drone during low-altitude flights, for different altitudes and UAV speeds. We show that, in such areas, the higher elevation benefits from a better signal quality and experiences a fewer number of handover processes. Higher speed flights also slightly degrade the communication performance.