Characterizing 802.11n aerial communication

Authors:
Mahdi Asadpour;Domenico Giustiniano;Karin Anna Hummel;Simon Heimlicher
Affiliations:
ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland;ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland;ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland;ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Venue:
Proceedings of the second ACM MobiHoc workshop on Airborne networks and communications
Year:
2013

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Abstract

In Search And Rescue missions, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) equipped with cameras allow for efficient scanning of large areas. Yet, delivering high resolution images to rescuers also requires high-speed communication. In this paper, we investigate the potential and challenges of wireless communication between UAVs in such scenarios. Our fleet of UAVs supports both a high-bandwidth network for bulk data transfer (802.11n) as well as a long-range radio for control messages (XBee-PRO 802.15.4). Extensive experiments show that 802.11n performs poorly in highly mobile scenarios, as the throughput between UAVs drops far below the theoretical maximum as soon as they become airborne. We consider several potential causes and present an analysis of their impact in isolation.