###### Abstract  
The frequency of natural disasters has increased recently, posing a huge threat to human society. Rapid, accurate, authentic, and comprehensive acquisition and transmission of disaster information are crucial in emergency response. In this paper, we propose a design scheme for an aerial remote sensing platform based on real-time satellite communication. This platform mainly includes a civilian heavy-duty unmanned aerial vehicle, ground observation system with the self-developed orthographic image stabilization device, wireless communication system with an airborne mobile communication device using Ku band, ground satellite information receiving station, and data processing and application analysis system. The image stabilization capability of the ground observation system and the communication capability of the wireless communication system were verified through ground and flight tests respectively. The results showed that the stability accuracy of the platform was better than the theoretical threshold, the system transmission rate was not less than 2 M bandwidth, the data packet loss rate was low, and the time delay was not more than 2 s. The images captured in the experiment were clear, with a resolution of less than 1 cm and an overlap rate of more than 70%. These all results meet the emergency observation requirement, which indicates that the aerial remote sensing platform based on real-time satellite communication has great potential for application in natural disaster emergency response. natural disasters; aerial remote sensing; satellite communication; emergency response; data transmission 2024 162866. 12.2 2024.12.  
the disaster area, it will not only pose a great threat to their life safety but also be extremely costly and inefficient [12]. Although ground monitoring (such as ground remote sensing vehicles, ground monitoring stations, etc.) can obtain information chronically and quickly, it is difficult to achieve long-distance and large-area monitoring due to the limitations of ground conditions and environment [13]. Especially when roads in disaster areas are damaged, ground monitoring methods are basically ineffective and cannot complete the task. During the last two decades, there has been an increase in the use of remote sensing technology for large-scale and high-resolution mapping and monitoring of natural hazards [14]. Remote sensing has become an important tool for hazards risk assessment and rescue operations [15; 16]. For example, satellite remote sensing uses optical sensors carried on satellites to observe the ground and transmit ground information to ground receiving stations in real time [9; 17]. In terms of resolution, the Worldview-4 satellite launched by the United States on \(11\) November 2016 has a resolution of 0.31 m, which can obtain the highest resolution civilian optical remote sensing data currently available [18]. The successful launch of first sub-meter-level stereoscopic satellite, Gaofen-7, marks that the resolution of low-orbit remote sensing satellite can reach 0.65 m in China [19]. However, these satellites are not in geosynchronous orbit and have a long re-entry period, which makes the observation of the same location periodic and delayed. Such timeliness is not enough to meet the needs of post-disaster emergency response. In general, although satellite remote sensing can obtain information related to emergencies over a large area and with high resolution, it has the disadvantages of time limit, fixed orbit, long revisit period, and other inflexibility [20]. Even geosynchronous orbit satellites, such as Gaofen-5, can continuously observe the same location, but the information resolution is low, about 50 m [19]. If there is heavy fog or cloud cover, satellite remote sensing cannot meet the requirements of monitoring the details of the disaster area [13; 21]. There has been a significant improvement in the spatial resolution of remote sensing technology in particular with the introduction of aerial remote sensing [22].