High-Speed Wi-Fi Systems for Long Range FANETS: Real Problems, Experiments, and Lessons Learnt

With the combinational use of geospatial and UAV technology, people have shown that much clearer and more precise surface features of the area under consideration can be extracted. Usually, for this, a good quality camera with limited memory is used. Although there are advancements in battery technology, the amount of time required in extracting data, analyze it and then rescheduling another flight is still a challenge. With advancements in Wi-Fi chips, which are light, reliable, and also cost reasonably less, one can set up a system for the swarm of UAVs to collect geospatial imagery data and simultaneously send that data over to the ground for real-time analysis. This will not only save the time for gathering data but will also provide newer opportunities for research. Also as the overall integrated systems are costly, this technology can be used for smaller missions and tinkered UAV projects. This paper discusses vastly experiments that were done for high-speed data transfer rates, the problem one faces during the design of such systems, and lessons learned for further research. FANETS—Flying Ad-Hoc NETworkS are being widely studied. These days much of the discussions are limited to radio connectivity, which is dependent on heavy equipment loaded on large UAVs. The scope of this study is limited to more affordable, medium to small UAVs that are widely used in geospatial technology as they are agile and small in size. This paper also gives a brief about probabilistic aspects of regular practice that leads to a successful connection. Where there is a large number of nodes, how can hopping help, is also briefly discussed along with its further scopes of research?