Download
Abstract

This thesis aims at studying the feasibility of using UAVs in BVLOS applications and focuses on the cellular communication support for the UAVs. The communication between GCS and UAVs is studied in two different scenarios, a real-world one and an emulated one. Showing that the two systems have similar behavior, despite presenting different performances, enables the use of hardware-in-the-loop emulators to develop new features to improve the cellular support for UAVs and comply with the 3GPP standards, and then to prototype solutions for cellular-supported UAVs in BVLOS flight. The study has been conducted by collecting over-the-air measurements of the real system, as well as by collecting data of the emulated system within a hardware-in-the-loop emulator. For the purposes of this study, the massive channel emulator Colosseum, available at Northeastern facilities, was used. The results obtained about the performances of the emulated and real systems and about the similarities of their behavior are satisfactory and match the expected outcomes. The two systems, the real-world one and the emulated one, show similar behaviors, despite having significant differences in terms of performances. This allows to consider the emulator (Colosseum) as a proper testbed for the design and development of new applications and features to improve the performance of cellular support for UAVs and thus meet the requirements of the 3GPP for enhanced LTE support for the UAS Traffic Management (UTM), while the real-world system can be used in a later phase.

Citation

Brach del Prever, Pietro. 2022. “Cellular Networks Support for Real-Time Control of UAVs.” Master’s thesis, Politecnico di Torino.

@mastersthesis{brach2022cellular,
  author = {Brach del Prever, Pietro},
  title  = {{Cellular Networks Support for Real-Time Control of UAVs}},
  school = {Politecnico di Torino},
  year   = {2022},
  url    = {https://webthesis.biblio.polito.it/secure/25473/1/tesi.pdf}
}