Timothy X Brown

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The Ad Hoc UAV Ground Network (AUGNet)

• Timothy X Brown
• Interdisciplinary Telecommunications
• Electrical and Computer Engineering
• University of Colorado
• Presented at the AIAA 3rd Unmanned Unlimited
  Technical ConferenceChicago
• September 21, 2004

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Thanks to

• University of Colorado
• Brian Argrow
• Cory Dixon
• Jack Elson
• Sheetalkumar Doshi
• Daniel Henkel
• Jesse Himmelstein
• Sushant Jadhav
• Gerald Jones
• Marc Kessler
• Jake Nelson
• Phillip Nies
• Bill Pisano
• Roshan-George Thekkekunnel

• Institute for Telecommunication Sciences
• John Ewan
• Fidelity-Comtech
• Joe Carey
• L3-Corporation
• Ken Davey

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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

• Small (10kg) Low-Cost (10k) UAVs
• Swarming, flocking, cooperative missions
• Military, scientific, commercial applications

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Ad Hoc Networks
A
C
B
Network Layer RelayingRobust Connectivity
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Ad hoc UAV-Ground Networks
Scenario 1 increase ground node connectivity.
NOC
Scenario 2 increase UAV mission range.
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We are building AUGNet

• COTS Radio Components
• Small Low-Cost UAV
• Full-Scale Test Bed.
• Fixed nodes
• Mobile ground nodes (vehicle/personnel carried)
• Aerial vehicle mounted nodes
• Test bed is another paper

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AUGNet Hardware Strategy

• Common hardware and software platform
• COTS communication hardware
• Open Source network software
• Custom UAVs
• Flexible and stable design

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Communication Hardware
Common Hardware802.11b PCMCIA cardSoekris
single board computer0.1-1W AmplifierGPS (for
monitoring) 256MB CF personality
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Communication Software

• Linux operating system
• Click packet processing
• Dynamic source routing
• Self starting, automated
• No long-term state
• RAM file system
• ROM personality
• Robust

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Test Bed
Table Mountain National Radio Quiet Zone
Experimenting to show the effect of the UAV
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Delay
Fixed nodes separated by 1 5 hops

• Delay 10ms per hop
• Have tested VoIP application. Works well up to 3
  hops

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Throughput

• Ad hoc throughput gt 100kbps up to 5 hops
• UAV enables short cuts that preserve throughput

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Range

• UAV more than doubles the range
• UAV performance more erratic more maneuvering

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Node Mobility
Between fixed node groups Mobile Relay
Within fixed node groups
To/From Mobile Nodes

• Mobile nodes are not reliable relays
• UAV helps bridge unreliable links

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Summary

• We are building COTS-based ad hoc networks on
  UAV, fixed, and mobile nodes.
• Range 1.2km Grnd-Grnd, 3 km UAV-Grnd
• Low Delay, Good Throughput Can do VoIP
• UAV maneuvering affects performance

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Next Steps

• Coupling Plane Dynamics with Communication
• UAV Flocking
• Multi UAV operations
• Project website augnet.colorado.edu