Menu

SMART TRANSPORT FEATURE NEWS

Nokia Showcases LTE for Smart City Drones

By Ken Briodagh February 08, 2016

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), as drones are properly called, have real world IoT applications outside of the hobbyist community and most of them fall well within the broad embrace of the Smart City.

Nokia showed off its new Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Traffic Management (UTM) concept for the safe operation of UAS via LTE at the UAE Drones for Good Award event in Dubai February 4 to 6. The real-time demonstration followed an invitation from the Organizing Committee of the UAE Drones for Good Award.

The healthcare, logistics, agriculture, news and entertainment industries are all eagerly playing with UAS and finding real efficiencies and safety enhancements, but carefully managing UAS operations is becoming a real challenge for governments and aviation authorities. Nokia says its technology provides centralized monitoring and control of UAS via an operator’s existing LTE network or dedicated LTE networks run by government or public safety departments. This allows for oversight and regulatory controls.     

“LTE enables innovative high-bandwidth services for the telecom industry and beyond. With market-leading LTE expertise, Nokia's UTM concept for operators and authorities can enable the safe operation of drones as part of the development of smart cities in UAE and around the globe,” said Joachim Wuilmet, head of Customer Marketing and Communications, Middle East and Africa, Nokia. “Nokia innovations such as this are well aligned with our vision to expand the human possibilities of technology in the connected world.”

The technical details are pretty impressive. LTE network technology combined with a Mobile Edge Computing platform acts to power the home base and monitoring stations, while drones are equipped with LTE dongles, GPS and access modules for telemetry data. Computing and processing components monitor airspace, view and control UAS flight paths and transfer telemetry data as well as establish dynamic no-flight zones. It also includes a mobile app for UAV pilot with UTM interface.

“The UAE Drones for Good Award aims at highlighting the latest developments in drones technology and its diverse uses in various sectors, including emergency and logistics services,” said Amer Abdulraoof, Deputy Coordinator General of the UAE Drones For Good Award. “We believe that Nokia's technology will help unlock the multifold possibilities of drones technology, ensuring the safe and secure operation of drones across industry sectors.”

Using UAS is becoming more common, as more industry sectors find profit from their use. Nokia in July 2015 employed telco UAS to carry smartphones with network testing applications in order to analyze a network. Telco drones were also used for tower inspections, radio planning and Line of Sight testing between radio towers.

And we’re still at the beginning. 




Edited by Maurice Nagle
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]

Editorial Director

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Related Articles

Zipline Announces 'Zip' Drones for Precise, Autonomous Deliveries

By: Alex Passett    3/31/2023

Zipline's "Zip" delivery drones are next-gen, virtually silent machines that are expected to deliver up to seven times faster than traditional automob…

Read More

Modeshift Partners with LTCA for Smart Ticketing

By: Stefania Viscusi    11/17/2022

Modeshift's smart transit solution has been adopted by Luzerne County Transportation Authority (LCTA) in the Wilkes-Barre, PA.

Read More

Video-Based Safety and AI Technology Can Reduce Truck Accidents

By: Tracey E. Schelmetic    11/15/2022

IoT solutions with video-based safety and AI technology can help reduce the likelihood of accidents by identifying distracted and aggressive driving.

Read More

Upward Mobility: Urban Movement Labs Joins Smart City Venture Studios as New Agency Partner

By: Matthew Vulpis    2/24/2022

The technology developed to create "smart cities" can make communities more effective and efficient in the use of resources, a necessity given the pro…

Read More

Up, Up, and Away - With Your IoT Data?

By: Special Guest    2/4/2021

Times have changed in the amazing world of the Internet of things (IoT). What once was a new and compelling idea has quickly worked its way into the h…

Read More