Unleashing the potential of tethered drones

KAUST researchers are using modeling techniques to understand how tethered UAVs could best be positioned as a powerful new tool for improving cellular phone and internet networks. © 2020 KAUST; Xavier Pita

The use of tethered unmanned aerial vehicles (TUAVs) has been modeled as a powerful new tool for improving cellular phone and internet networks. When employed as flying base stations with a cable connection, multirotor drones promise to quickly ramp up coverage, increase the efficiency of urban networks and provide much needed access in remote rural areas.

“Our aim has been to show that TUAVs offer a very appealing solution as a bridge between fixed base stations and free-flying drones,” says Mohamed-Slim Alouini, who has authored two papers on the subject with other KAUST mathematicians Mustafa A. Kishk and Ahmed Bader. “We hope our theoretical investigation will spur others to develop the idea to its full potential,” says Alouini.

Read the full article

For more information on
-Professor Mohamed-Slim Alouini's Communication Theory Lab

Follow KAUST Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (CEMSE) Division on
twitter: @cemseKAUST