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