Imagine you're flying a drone for a delivery or inspection job, and it suddenly loses its phone signal — that's a safety nightmare. This project figured out how to keep drones connected by combining regular mobile networks (like your phone uses) with satellite links, so there's always a backup. The team actually flew real drones, measured how signals behave in the air, and designed a communication system that keeps drones safely connected whether they're remotely piloted or flying on their own.
Drones operating beyond visual line of sight need continuous, reliable data links for safe command-and-control — but cellular networks alone have coverage gaps, especially at altitude. Without a guaranteed communication link, autonomous and semi-autonomous drone operations cannot be safely scaled for commercial use.
The project delivered an integrated cellular-satellite system architecture concept for drone data links, a software-based evaluation environment for simulating aerial communications, and real drone flight campaign measurement data across 15 deliverables. The flight campaign (D5.1) provided actual radio propagation data from drone altitudes.
If you are a drone logistics company dealing with unreliable communication links that ground your fleet or limit flight range — this project developed an integrated cellular-satellite architecture concept validated through real drone flight campaigns that ensures continuous data link connectivity for safe autonomous operations.
If you are a telecom provider looking to offer drone communication services along designated corridors — this project produced real-world aerial radio measurements and a software evaluation environment for drone communications, built with Nokia and Thales Alenia Space, that can inform your network planning for aerial users.
If you are a utility company relying on drones for power line or pipeline inspections in remote areas where cellular coverage is spotty — this project designed a dual cellular-satellite link architecture that maintains reliable command-and-control even in coverage gaps, validated through actual drone flight measurements.
The project focused on designing and validating a cellular-satellite architecture concept rather than producing a commercial product. Cost would depend on integrating the specifications into existing drone platforms and negotiating with cellular/satellite providers. Based on available project data, no per-unit pricing was established.
The architecture was designed to support reliable operations for remote controlled, semi-autonomous, and fully autonomous small UAS. The involvement of Nokia (mobile infrastructure) and atesio (network planning and optimization) suggests scalability was considered, but large-scale multi-drone deployment was not explicitly demonstrated in the project.
The consortium of 4 partners across 3 countries (DE, DK, FR) holds the intellectual property. Key industry partners Thales Alenia Space, Nokia, and atesio each bring domain-specific IP. Licensing would need to be negotiated directly with the relevant consortium members.
The project aimed to contribute to the definition of integrated cellular-satellite data link specifications for UAS, which directly feeds into regulatory standards work. The drone flight campaign (D5.1) provided real measurement data to support specification development. However, formal regulatory certification was not part of the project scope.
The project conducted real drone flight campaigns, documented in deliverable D5.1, which provided measurement data for radio channel characterization. These real-world results fed into the software-based evaluation environment and system architecture simulations across 15 total deliverables.
The architecture was specifically designed as an integrated cellular-satellite concept, meaning it builds on top of existing cellular networks rather than replacing them. Nokia's involvement as a major mobile infrastructure provider suggests compatibility with standard cellular technology was a design priority.
This is a compact but heavyweight consortium of 4 partners across 3 countries with a 75% industry ratio — unusually high for a research project. Thales Alenia Space brings aerospace and air-ground communications expertise, Nokia provides mobile network infrastructure knowledge, and atesio contributes telecom network planning algorithms. Aalborg University anchors the research side with its mobile communications centre. The presence of two global industry leaders (Thales and Nokia) signals that this work was designed with commercial relevance from the start, not just academic exploration.
Aalborg University, Denmark — reach out to their mobile communications research centre
Want to connect with the DroC2om team about licensing their cellular-satellite drone communication specifications? SciTransfer can arrange an introduction.
