Category: Communications application

UAV Provides Inexpensive Broadband Internet

Last week, the UN declared that Internet access is a basic human right. That is fine and well in an industrialized, densely-populated area, but what about the developing world and sparsely-populated regions?  How do you deliver blazing speed at a reasonable cost? The answer, as usual, is “drones”. This patent application describes an apparatus carried by a UAV that focuses a radio beam on a specific area, connecting anyone in that area to the internet. […]

Intelligent Drone Communication, by Raytheon

Raytheon is no slouch when it comes to technology, and this is no exception: communicating with a drone for military applications is of prime importance. After all, that’s why you launched the UAV in the first place. The need for improved communication are ever-present: “Satellite transponders for military and/or commercial use are oversubscribed and expensive to put in place and maintain. Current RF transponders lack intelligence. Users of low power transmitters must therefore communicate with non-intelligent transponders […]

When Pigs Fly – NOWs Replace SOWs and COWs

Notwithstanding our technological prowess, Mother Nature has a sinister sense of humor, and stuff happens beyond our control. When disaster strikes, it is crucial to establish a communication grid as quickly and efficiently as possible. Bandwidth-hungry networks help coordinate search and rescue, law enforcement and recovery personnel. Sure, there exist “cellular on wheels” (COWs) and “system on wheels” (SOWs), which are carted on trucks into hotspots, but what if there are no roads, or personnel […]

Drone-Based Communication Network Provides Blazing Speed

You know those action movies where the good guy is deep inside hostile territory, and has a real-time video ‘face to face’ meeting with the General? That may be feasible with classified military tech, but in the the civilian world, that would require a satellite link. That means shoddy bandwidth, crappy video quality and a 240ms lag, so you might as well say “Over” after every sentence. Radionor’s (http://www.radionor.no/) invention will bring movie fiction closer […]