CBL - Campus del Baix Llobregat

Projecte llegit

Títol: Implementation of Lightweight Base Stations of Mobile Networks in Drones: Feasibility Analysis and Performance Evaluation

Estudiants que han llegit aquest projecte:

Director/a: GARCÍA LOZANO, MARIO

Departament: TSC

Títol: Implementation of Lightweight Base Stations of Mobile Networks in Drones: Feasibility Analysis and Performance Evaluation

Data inici oferta: 30-01-2023     Data finalització oferta: 30-09-2023


Estudis d'assignació del projecte:
    DG ENG AERO/SIS TEL
Tipus: Individual
 
Lloc de realització: EETAC
 
Segon director/a (UPC): ROYO CHIC, PABLO
 
Paraules clau:
Flying base station, drones and mobile networks, mission critical communications, coverage extension
 
Descripció del contingut i pla d'activitats:
The aim of this final degree project is to conduct a thorough
study about the implementation of ultra-
light base station on board of drones. Different hardware
configurations and drone models with different
payload capacity are to be considered. Hence, different
implementation proposals are expected to be
designed covering different options in the competing triangle:
flying time ' service time ' quality of
service (QoS). The project aims to address several objectives,
including:

To analyze the feasibility of implementing open stacks of
cellular networks, software radio devices, and
miniPCs, including the implementation in embedded systems such as
the latest versions of Raspberry Pi.

To perform an analysis of the trade-off between flight time,
coverage time, and quality of service,
considering that a higher quality of service will result in
higher energy consumption. A special focus
will be set on the importance of optimizing energy consumption in
this context. This process will have to
be automated and requires de coordination of different devices to
obtain meaningful data.

To study the implementation limitations, such as space in drones,
optimizing antenna locations, and
electromagnetic compatibility. In this sense, studies to analyze
the frequencies that may cause issues and
malfunctions in existing communication devices will be done.

Based on the previous studies, a proposal for implementation in
commercial drone models from the
leading brand DJI will be made.

Field tests will be conducted to verify the designs, evaluate
coverage levels, test quality, study self-
generated shadowing that may introduce drone into the radio link,
and evaluate the cell created inside the
drone lab with several operational mobile terminals.

Additional tasks may include evaluating a potential backhaul
circuit with the drone acting as a user of a
second cellular network and options for distributing processing
load between the drone and the ground
station.
 
Overview (resum en anglès):
The aim of this investigation is to determine the feasibility of implementing ultra-lightweight base stations on a drone using LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology. To achieve this, different hardware configurations and drone models with varying payload capacities have been considered. The project analyses the feasibility and limitations of implementing open-source protocol stacks such as srsRAN on llight computers (Asus PN50) and integrated systems (Raspberry Pi 4 and Rock 5) combined with software-defined radio devices. Various implementation proposals have been designed to address the trade-off between flight time, coverage time, and performance.
This project places particular emphasis on optimizing power consumption, given its importance in this context, always keeping in mind that better performance implies higher consumption and shorter flight and coverage times. The impact of possible LTE base station configurations in terms of bandwidth and Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) has been studied. This task has been automated and required coordination among multiple devices, as well as modification of part of the srsRAN code to obtain important metrics. Characterizing these power consumptions has been essential to determine the necessary batteries, the weight of which affects the drone's flight time.
Based on the previous studies, a proposal has been made for implementation on a model drone from the leading brand DJI. Different drones for carrying out the implementation are also proposed. Limitations of using drones have been studied, such as available space for integrating the base station and electromagnetic compatibility between the new LTE signal emission and the communications for drone control and telemetry transmission. LTE frequencies that can cause problems in drone communication and vice versa have been analysed as well. Additionally, to improve flight time, the weight of the equipment has been reduced by 3D printing plastic cases to replace metal ones.
Finally, field tests have been conducted to verify the design, including test flights at the Dronlab of the School of Telecommunications and Aerospace Engineering in Castelldefels. The initial hypothesis is demonstrated, and the proof of concept shows good levels of performance and coverage.

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