Prototype of an Emergency Mobile Communication System for Areas with Limited Coverage Using UAV
摘要
Mobile emergency communications are fundamental for efficient risk management, the lack of telecommunications infrastructure for rapid deployment amplifies the catastrophe. For this reason, the present work explores the relevance of implementing a mobile emergency communication system using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). This system offers an innovative and effective solution to ensure connectivity in remote areas, during natural disasters or in emergency situations where the traditional communication infrastructure is compromised. In the first instance, an analysis of hardware and software components was realized, which facilitated the selection of the most suitable ones. The implemented prototype consists of two subsystems, on the one hand, the UAV and on the other hand, the 4G LTE mobile network. Thus, the UAV components were assembled, and the flight controller configuration was performed in Mission Planner. For the LTE node implementation, Ubuntu server 22.04 LTS was used on a Rasberry Pi 4, and the open software srsRAN_4G was installed, which allowed all the LTE core network (EPC) configurations, in addition, BladeRF was used to act as eNB on the radio access interface with 3 MHz bandwidth. For the UEs connection, programmable SIM/USIMs were used. This LTE station was mounted on the UAV and connectivity and network performance tests were performed from the air, reaching an altitude of 30 m, the reception power in the UEs, transfer capacity, coverage, operability of the UAV and its flight autonomy were measured. The prototype was robust, the LTE network worked according to its configurations and connectivity was provided to the commercial UEs.