# Mobile Network Performance and Technical Feasibility of LTE-Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
## 5 Reflection: Practical Challenges and Solutions  
Existing LTE infrastructure mainly focussed on terrestrial communication. To make sure the area has LTE network coverage, a pre-flight setup needs to be conducted, by using an radio-controlled drone and doing a drive test first. The feasibility of using the sidelobe of the antenna in handling the UAV is still uncertain. The drone in this test was still flying within a coverage which theoretically looks like an umbrella provided by the eNodeB. The drone was not able to fly higher than that. This paper aimed to reveal the limitations of the current LTE design, and thus to fully optimize LTE-based control systems we need to incorporate LTE tower designers. However, this study shows that the utilization of the LTE network for drone communication is still possible. Table 6 compares the requirements made by 3 GPP release-15 and the measured network performance based on the field test. Based on the field test, the LTE-powered drone developed is able to transfer all of the telemetry data, update its waypoint, and perform real-time piloting by utilizing the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) link at a 115,200 baud rate. Meanwhile the real-time video was streamed simultaneously by utilizing the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) link at a 57,600 baud rate. Therefore, in terms of practicality, the LTE-based control system can compensate for the drone operational requirements. However, in QoS, the drone experienced a longer delay, which was almost twice the delay proposed by 3 GPP. In addition to evaluating the QoS, the throughput used for \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**3 GPP Standard**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Performance Based on Field Test**} \\ \cline{2-7}  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Command and Control} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Application Data} & TCP & UDP \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{Data type example} & \(\bullet\) & Telemetry data & & \(\bullet\) & Telemetry data & \\  & \(\bullet\) & Waypoint update & & \(\bullet\) & Waypoint update & \\  & for autonomous & \(\bullet\) & Video streaming & & for autonomous & \\  & & aerial vehicle & \(\bullet\) & Image transfer & aerial vehicle & \(\bullet\) & Video streaming \\  & & operation & \(\bullet\) & Transmission for & operation & \(\bullet\) & Image transfer \\  & \(\bullet\) & Real-time piloting & & other sensor data & \(\bullet\) & Real-time piloting & \\  & \(\bullet\) & Navigation & & & \(\bullet\) & Navigation & \\  & & database update & & & & database update & \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{Latency} & \(\bullet\) & One way radio & & & & \\  & & interface latency & & & & \\ \cline{1-1}  & & of 50 ms from & & & & \\ \cline{1-1}  & & eNodeB to aerial & & & & \\ \cline{1-1}  & & UE & & & & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Uplink/downlink data rate} & \(\bullet\) & 60–100 kbps for & & & & \\ \cline{1-1}  & both uplink and & & & & & \\ \cline{1-1}  & downlink & & & & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 6: Comparison between the requirement established in 3 rd Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) Release-15 and the measured network performance. TCP, Transmission Control Protocol; UDP, User Datagram Protocol. Figure 23: Relationship between throttle level, thrust, and flight-time. telemetry data transmission, for both uplink and downlink, is sufficient, but for video streaming requirements it still cannot abide by the standard established by 3 GPP. In terms of practicality, the current network can provide all of the requirements needed for a drone to be operated using an LTE network, but in terms of QoS, the LTE network requires more improvements. In addition, in terms of improvement from the conventional drone, using an LTE-based control system gives more benefits, as shown in Table 7, which allows real-time GPS tracking, the ability to update navigation data, and data transmission from sensors located at the drone. Moreover, the most important improvement is being able to do a BVLoS flight operation.