Mobile Communications and Parachute Systems for Safe Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLoS) UAV Operation

Abstract

Demand for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to fly Beyond the Visual Line of Sight has been significant for the past few years. To do so, the UAV must have a reliable long-range Command and Control (C2) link. The UAV is also expected to avoid any obstacle autonomously with a reliable Detect and Avoid (DAA) mechanism and the ability to detect nearby aircraft since the sky is occupied by manned aircraft. Lastly, the UAV should not endanger others’ life or property. Therefore, this article proposes a hardware and software configuration that utilises the cellular network and DAA system with the deployment of a parachute system to achieve a safe BVLOS UAV operation. The quality of cellular networks at multiple altitudes, the C2 link performance, the ability to perform long-range flights, and the parachute system’s reliability were investigated. The results indicate the effectiveness of the developed systems as the starting point to allow BVLOS drone operations.