Smart Industry 1/2019

Airborne Networks
drones to the Rescue
photo ©: AT&T
Out of the ashes of disaster, drones are rising
to the challenge of setting up communications
to help the rescue services fighting to
save lives in the most trying of environments.
n By Eric Doyle
When disaster strikes,
buildings collapse,
roads become impassable,
and communications
break down. Chaos reigns and
rescuers have to battle through the
devastation to minimize loss of life
and reestablish some semblance of
order. The first need is to reestablish a
communications network so that rescue
teams from numerous countries
can coordinate their efforts and prevent
further loss of life – and to enable
isolated communities to call for help.
Traditional cell networks take time
to set up and rescue teams often set
off, independently, with basic walkietalkie
radios. Two innovations have
arrived that could vastly improve this
situation: unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs), or drones, and small-cell telecom
transmission pods.
The idea of drone-based, small cellular
networks (DSCNs) captured the
imagination of phone service providers
several years ago as a way to provide
pop-up, local base stations. The
initial idea was to use DSCNs to provide
connectivity in remote regions
or in mountain areas where masts are
uneconomical or simply don’t work.
The main advantage of DSCNs is that
they enable standard cell phones to
be used – so anyone, rescuer or citizen,
can use the network without specialized
equipment, and the height at
which drones operate massively increases
the coverage.
Cheap commodity drones have made
the provisioning of wireless networks
even more economical, but there is
a downside: the greater the weight
carried by a drone, the faster the battery
is drained. Consequently, many
drones being used are tethered to
the ground by power cables to ensure
they can run indefinitely – but at the
cost of maneuverability.
The power issue is benefiting from
“femtocell” developments – small
4G and 5G transmitter/receiver cells
which are light and run on low power.
On Station
Pop-up base stations
combine unmanned
aerial vehicles and
latest small-cell
telecom technology.
Things Go Wrong
Nokia and Vodafone
are developing
femtocell networks
to help firefighters
communicate during
emergencies.
photo ©: Nokia Networks
These femtocells, picocells, microcells,
and macrocells, listed in increasing
transmission ranges from around 10
meters to 35 kilometers, can dynamically
reconfigure the heterogeneous
networks (HetNets) they form to ensure
resilience if things go wrong. This
has fired up several test beds, with
Nokia joining mobile operator Vodafone
to produce a system for firefighters
in Dusseldorf, Germany, and
the Finnish comms equipment maker
also pairing with EE to test a DSCN in
Scotland.
The COWs Are Coming
Home to Roost
The most advanced drones, AT&T’s
Flying COW (Cell on Wings) UAVs, are
already in use. Art Pregler, AT&T drone
program director, says, “We started
investigating the use of drones a few
years ago to bring connectivity to
first responders and the public during
emergency situations. AT&T first
deployed its Flying COW in Puerto
Rico as a part of our disaster recovery
efforts following Hurricane Maria. This
was the first time an LTE cell site on a
drone had been successfully deployed
to connect residents after a disaster.”
Drones were also used in the US last
year in recovery efforts after hurricanes
Michael and Florence. Pregler
says standard Flying COWs can handle
40 kph winds, while carrying a 13
kg payload, while all-weather drones
can handle 60 kph winds and 80 kph
gusts.
In the near future, autonomous cars
and other smart city systems will rely
on 5G and the work being done now
will help when mini-disasters strike
and black out an area.
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