Mission-critical visual communication for drones using satcom in multi-homing networks

The objective is to study, create and optimize a novel robust and resilient video streaming solution for drones that supports satellite communication in multi-homing networks. The solution shall have two modes, here referred to as: - Pilot mode ? where the focus shall be on minimum delay with best possible quality - Payload mode ? where the focus shall be on minimum bandwidth within relevant time limits The drone type shall focus on Low Altitude Long Endurance (LALE), but may cover other groups. The satellite system shall be Inmarsat but other systems may be studied. A relevant satellite terminal now to relate a realistic solution to is the Cobham UAV200 Aviator. During the work, other options may arrive too. This terminal shall be used on combination with cellular networks that include 4G and 3G, and may also include EDGE and GPRS. A local radio link providing Internet access via ground shall be included. This link may be Wi-Fi. The camera sensor shall have the capability to capture 4k video. Other sensors may be included. The network resilience implies network connectivity may be unreliable as a function of coverage gaps, and not persistent, while robustness shall be achieved towards packet error loss in mobile radio links. The solutions shall focus on use of Videogram Streaming using HEVC (VGRAM) and Network Coded Torrents (NECTOR) for the payload mode and should focus on multi-QUIC for the pilot mode. Solutions shall be implemented, studied and verified, and compared with a reference. Should any of the approaches fail, then updating the methods can be done.

The objective is to study, create and optimize a novel robust and resilient video streaming solution for drones that supports satellite communication in multi-homing networks. The solution shall have two modes, here referred to as: - Pilot mode, where the focus shall be on minimum delay with best possible quality - Payload mode, where the focus shall be on minimum bandwidth within relevant time limits The drone type shall focus on Low Altitude Long Endurance (LALE), but may cover other groups. The satellite system shall be Inmarsat but other systems may be studied. A relevant satellite terminal now to relate a realistic solution to is the Cobham UAV200 Aviator. During the work, other options may arrive too. This terminal shall be used on combination with cellular networks that include 4G and 3G, and may also include EDGE and GPRS. A local radio link providing Internet access via ground shall be include. This link may be Wi-Fi. The camera sensor shall have the capability to capture 4k video. Other sensors may be included. The network resilience implies network connectivity may be unreliable, and not persistent, while robustness shall be achieved towards packet error loss in mobile radio links. The solutions shall focus on use of Videogram Streaming using HEVC (VGRAM) and Network Coded Torrents (NECTOR) for the payload mode and should focus on multi-QUIC for the pilot mode. Solutions shall be implemented and verified. The work is part of a joint University (UAB), Company (AnsuR), Research Institute (Simula) collaboration and part of European Space research, and targets applied research.