An Experimental Tethered UAV-Based Communication System with Continuous Power Supply
Ensuring reliable communication in remote or disaster-affected areas is a technical challenge due to unplanned deployment and mobilization, meaning placement difficulties and high operation costs of conventional telecommunications infrastructures. To address this problem, unmanned aerial vehicles (U...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Future Internet |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/17/7/273 |
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| author | Veronica Rodriguez Christian Tipantuña Diego Reinoso Jorge Carvajal-Rodriguez Carlos Egas Acosta Pablo Proaño Xavier Hesselbach |
| author_facet | Veronica Rodriguez Christian Tipantuña Diego Reinoso Jorge Carvajal-Rodriguez Carlos Egas Acosta Pablo Proaño Xavier Hesselbach |
| author_sort | Veronica Rodriguez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ensuring reliable communication in remote or disaster-affected areas is a technical challenge due to unplanned deployment and mobilization, meaning placement difficulties and high operation costs of conventional telecommunications infrastructures. To address this problem, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have emerged as an excellent alternative to provide quick connectivity in remote or disaster-affected regions at a reasonable cost. However, the limited battery autonomy of UAVs restricts their flight service time. This paper proposes a communication system based on a tethered UAV (T-UAV) capable of continuous operation through a wired power network connected to a ground station. The communications system is based on low-cost devices, such as Raspberry Pi platforms, and offers wireless IP telephony services, providing high-quality and reliable communication. Experimental tests assessed power consumption, UAV stability, and data transmission performance. Our results prove that the T-UAV, based on a quadcopter drone, operates stably at 16 V and 20 A, ensuring consistent VoIP communications at a height of 10 m with low latency. These experimental findings underscore the potential of T-UAVs as cost-effective alternatives for extending or providing communication networks in remote regions, emergency scenarios, or underserved areas. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6b13602cad6f4e41a08d4fad4962b15c |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 1999-5903 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Future Internet |
| spelling | doaj-art-6b13602cad6f4e41a08d4fad4962b15c2025-07-25T13:23:39ZengMDPI AGFuture Internet1999-59032025-06-0117727310.3390/fi17070273An Experimental Tethered UAV-Based Communication System with Continuous Power SupplyVeronica Rodriguez0Christian Tipantuña1Diego Reinoso2Jorge Carvajal-Rodriguez3Carlos Egas Acosta4Pablo Proaño5Xavier Hesselbach6Department of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Networks, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito 170525, EcuadorDepartment of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Networks, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito 170525, EcuadorDepartment of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Networks, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito 170525, EcuadorDepartment of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Networks, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito 170525, EcuadorDepartment of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Networks, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito 170525, EcuadorDepartment of Industrial Automation and Control, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito 170525, EcuadorDepartment of Network Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), 08034 Barcelona, SpainEnsuring reliable communication in remote or disaster-affected areas is a technical challenge due to unplanned deployment and mobilization, meaning placement difficulties and high operation costs of conventional telecommunications infrastructures. To address this problem, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have emerged as an excellent alternative to provide quick connectivity in remote or disaster-affected regions at a reasonable cost. However, the limited battery autonomy of UAVs restricts their flight service time. This paper proposes a communication system based on a tethered UAV (T-UAV) capable of continuous operation through a wired power network connected to a ground station. The communications system is based on low-cost devices, such as Raspberry Pi platforms, and offers wireless IP telephony services, providing high-quality and reliable communication. Experimental tests assessed power consumption, UAV stability, and data transmission performance. Our results prove that the T-UAV, based on a quadcopter drone, operates stably at 16 V and 20 A, ensuring consistent VoIP communications at a height of 10 m with low latency. These experimental findings underscore the potential of T-UAVs as cost-effective alternatives for extending or providing communication networks in remote regions, emergency scenarios, or underserved areas.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/17/7/273unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)tethered UAVT-UAVenergy managementwireless VoIPemergency network infrastructure |
| spellingShingle | Veronica Rodriguez Christian Tipantuña Diego Reinoso Jorge Carvajal-Rodriguez Carlos Egas Acosta Pablo Proaño Xavier Hesselbach An Experimental Tethered UAV-Based Communication System with Continuous Power Supply Future Internet unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) tethered UAV T-UAV energy management wireless VoIP emergency network infrastructure |
| title | An Experimental Tethered UAV-Based Communication System with Continuous Power Supply |
| title_full | An Experimental Tethered UAV-Based Communication System with Continuous Power Supply |
| title_fullStr | An Experimental Tethered UAV-Based Communication System with Continuous Power Supply |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Experimental Tethered UAV-Based Communication System with Continuous Power Supply |
| title_short | An Experimental Tethered UAV-Based Communication System with Continuous Power Supply |
| title_sort | experimental tethered uav based communication system with continuous power supply |
| topic | unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) tethered UAV T-UAV energy management wireless VoIP emergency network infrastructure |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/17/7/273 |
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