Airbourne WiFi Networks Through Directional Antenna: An Experimental Study

• Main Author: Gu, Yixin
• Other Authors: Fu, Shengli
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: University of North Texas 2015
• Subjects: WiFi directional antenna; WiFi network; drones; Wireless communication system.; Antennas (Electronics).; Drone aircraft.
• Online Access: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799469/

In situations where information infrastructure is destroyed or not available, on-demand information infrastructure is pivotal for the success of rescue missions. In this paper, a drone-carried on demand information infrastructure for long-distance WiFi transmission system is developed. It can be used in the areas including emergency response, public event, and battlefield. The WiFi network can be connected to the Internet to extend WiFi access to areas where WiFi and other Internet infrastructures are not available. In order to establish a local area network to propagate WIFI service, directional antennas and wireless routers are used to create it. Due to unstable working condition on the flying drones, a precise heading turning stage is designed to maintain the two directional antennas facing to each other. Even if external interferences change the heading of the drones, the stages will automatically rotate back to where it should be to offset the bias. Also, to maintain the same flying altitude, a ground controller is designed to measure the height of the drones so that the directional antennas can communicate to each other successfully. To verify the design of the whole system, quite a few field experiments were performed. Experiments results indicates the design is reliable, viable and successful. Especially at disaster areas, it’ll help people a lot.