At the moment one of the weak points in the world of drones, in addition to their autonomy, lies in the fact that both by regulations and by flight range they cannot be too far from the station. This problem could change thanks to the progress that is being made in the project that is being carried out in Japan and that today is known as Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory.
Under this enormous name, the effectiveness that the equip a drone literally with a smartphone In order to use the LTE (Long-Term Evolution) communications network as a method of connection between the station that the pilot had and the device itself. In the first tests the results have been more than interesting that literally the pilot has been able to control the drone at more than 60 kilometers away.
Using 4G networks in drones could make them controlled by an operator more than 9.000 kilometers away.
In many cases, drones are operated by radio control or georeferencing flying in radii of a maximum distance of one kilometer. This project proposes a completely different approach since it would allow drones equipped with this type of technology to fly in much more extended ranges, something that would be ideal especially for those teams that in the future will be used for services such as surveillance and security. or the distribution of goods.
A new step would be to get aircraft capable of flying using the fourth generation (4G) telecommunications system, these would be able to send images and reports on the conditions in which the journey is developing almost instantaneously. On the other hand, by using a communications network for telephony, there would be no need to install any additional infrastructure to be used solely by drones.