Optimal data communications between a UAV and a network of ground control stations

(UAV) and a network of ground/aerial control stations for long range communications to connect various remote places of Northern Canada. The main goal of this project is to design, test and implement a robust communication subsystem for such a vehicle to maintain a long range communication with a required data throughput. Most of the civilian UAVs in use today have flight duration of about an hour. They UAVs use the IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n standard Wi-Fi technology to communicate with portable control stations. However, the range of these communication links are very short (70m for indoors and 300m for outdoors), and are not suitable for long-range flights. Thus, implementing and maintaining a reliable long-range communications link is very important. The research objectives of this project are to (i) Design and implement a communication subsystem to support a long-range operation of the UAV by employing multiple ground/aerial control stations with high-gain directional antenna and omni directional antenna, (ii) Design and implement a communications protocol that can predict link quality and provide high data rates, (iii) Design and implement a fuzzy inference system to regulate the transmission power against predicted link quality and distance to GCS, (iv)

Faculty Supervisor:

Witold Kinsner

Student:

Partner:

Buoyant Aircraft Systems International

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Manitoba

Program: