TELECONTROL OF A UAV

Optimum Control of UAVs Beyond Line of Sight

Through UMTS Cellular System

Marvin Katende (17/U/4795/PS)

Anil Pelice Ayebare (17/U/3287/PS)
BSc. Telecommunications Engineering

Main supervisor: Dr. Abubaker Waswa

Co-supervisor: Dr. Jonathan Serugunda
Field supervisor: Dr. Steven Jeremy Ntambi

April 13, 2021

Outline
Background
Problem statement
Justification
Project scope
Objectives
Methodology
Expected results
Work plan
References

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Background
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are rapidly becoming key
technology in various applications like:
Precision agriculture, monitoring, delivery etc.

UAV control range is key in such applications.

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Background
Use of remote control (RC) transmitters for control is
limited to visual line of sight and few kilometers of
distance, typical maximum of 2 Km.

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Background
Published literature concerning the issue of increasing range
includes:
Advanced GCS software based system using GSM
band to increase coverage [1].
Remote measurement and control technology for UAV
network [2].
Arduino-based telecom subsystem for controlling
UAVs through GSM/GPRS [3].
Development of UAV teleoperation virtual virtual
environment based on GSM networks and real
weather effects [4].
Aerial control system for spectrum efficiency in
UAV-to-Cellular communications [5].
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Problem statement
Achieving line of sight is hard given many obstacles in
their operation environment.

So, how best can we address UAV control beyond

visual line of sight?

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Justification
Failure to achieve line of sight can be hazardous or in
some applications, tiresome.

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Project scope
The scope of this project is to design an efficient
telecontrol system for a UAV via UMTS (Universal
Mobile Telecommunications System).
The UAV should not lose signal at cell edges due to
cell breathing.

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Project scope
This can be achieved through:
Varying UAV receiver’s parameters.
Utilizing multi path signal propagation.
UCC showed total percentage network coverage of 3G in
Uganda being 44% in total [6].
UMTS is considered in this case due to the trade off
on it’s national coverage and cell edge performance.

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Objectives
Main objective
To design and implement a bidirectional
telecommunication link for the UMTS - UAV system.
Specific objectives
To model a ground control interface through which the
UAV should be controlled on the network.
To measure signal strength from various multi path
directions.
To test the data link performance of the system at cell
edge of UMTS nodes.
To achieve a control range at maximum UMTS cell
radius.
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Methodology

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Expected results
Remote control of a UAV beyond visual line of sight.
Real time control of the UAV using the implemented
system.

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Work plan

Figure: April 13, 2021 12 / 15

Project budget

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References
[1] P. Z. a. B. A. A. AbdElHamid, ”Advanced Software
Ground and UAV Development for NLOS Control Using
Mobile Communications,” Discrete Dynamics in Nature
and Society, vol., pp. 1-20, 2015.
[2] D. J. a. L. S. L. Zhu, ”Research of remote measurement
and control technology of UAV based communication
networks,” Information and Automation, IEEE Interna-
tional Conference on, Lijiang, pp. 2517-2522, 2015.
[3] G. N. S. e. al., ”An Arduino - based subsytem for control-
ling UAVs through GSM,” 2017 6th International Con-
ference on Modern Circuits and Systems Technologies
(MOCAST), Thessaloniki, Greece, 2017.

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References
[4] A. a. P. Zong, ”Development of UAV Teleoperation Vir-
tual Environment Based On GSM Networks and Real
Weather Effects,” International Journal of Aeronauti-
cal and Space Sciences, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 463-474,
September 2015.
[5] Aerial Control System for Spectrum Efficiency in UAV-
to-Cellular Communications,,” in IEEE Communications
Magazine, vol. 56, no. 10, pp. 108-113, October 2018.
[6] GSMA ”Uganda: Driving inclusive socio-economic
progress through mobile-enabled digital transforma-
tion”, 2018.

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