A Database System Architecture for Air-to-Ground UAS Link Characterization

摘要

This paper describes work to create an unmanned aerial system (UAS) testbed, built on commercial off-the-shelf hardware and open source software components, as a platform for networking and spectrum related research. Of particular interest is characterization of (low altitude) air-ground wireless links between an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and a ground node, for which little prior data is available. UAVs are mounted with software defined radios (SDR) capable of transmitting IEEE 802.11 packets to a ground node. Multiple static tests are executed to collect data in different scenarios - characterizing the dependence of link quality on wireless parameters and physical parameters such as aircraft altitude and distance. A major contribution of this work is the creation of a public database that will enable new propagation models using this data, and in turn will drive more accurate UAV network simulations.