Deutsche Telekom Uses Drone As Flying Base Station For Temporary Coverage

Deutsche Telekom announced that it has used a drone to provide mobile network coverage to customers on a live commercial network: From an altitude of 2.3 kilometers in the sky, an unmanned aerial vehicle with an integrated mobile base station provided coverage on the slopes at the legendary Jizerská 50 race, part of Ski Classics, in the Jizera Mountains. 

Deutsche Telekom teamed up with unmanned aviation experts Primoco UAV SE to jointly develop and test the unique solution for temporary mobile coverage. During its first deployment the drone provided continuous coverage under favorable weather conditions for four hours to an otherwise uncovered six kilometer stretch of the Jizerská 50 route. This makes Deutsche Telekom the first ever carrier in Europe to deploy this type of flying base station.

“In inaccessible terrain or crisis situations, a flying antenna drone provides resilient connectivity. Wherever it is needed. And very effectively. This approach complements Deutsche Telekom's broad toolbox to reliably provide mobile communications in many scenarios,” said Claudia Nemat, Board Member for Technology and Innovation.

"Jizerská 50" offered an ideal deployment scenario for the flying antenna system: The Jizera Mountains Protected Landscape Area is a frequent venue for sporting events and at the same time a nature reserve. Without interfering with the protected area, T-Mobile Czech Republic could ensure the 4,460 participants in the 50-kilometre main race were always connected – reaching download speeds of up to 95 Megabits per second and an uplink up to 34 Megabits per second. This year a total of more than 23,600 visitors were on the site.

Deutsche Telekom has a toolbox of solutions it can flexibly deploy to cover areas depending on the situation and requirements on the ground. Temporary coverage solutions include cells on wheels, the ‘Cell-Tower-to-Go’ or flying base stations. The new drone solution, which was developed by a Deutsche Telekom innovation team based in Czech Republic, can be deployed in diverse scenarios. For example, for large sporting events or cultural events in areas with special legal requirements or with inaccessible terrain. These are typically mountainous and densely forested areas or protected areas, where it is not possible to deploy a permanent base station, and even the use of temporary base stations in the form of containers often do not offer an efficient solution. Another important application scenario is the use of the flying antenna as a flexible alternative in crisis situations – such as floods, earthquakes or fires when the terrestrial infrastructure no longer works. The drone can quickly provide mobile communications for those affected and emergency services.

The Primoco One 150 drone, which is used as the flying base station, is designed and manufactured in the Czech Republic. The built-in base station can be connected “air-to-ground” to a terrestrial backhaul as well as via satellite “air-to-space”. The system enables download speeds of up to 200 Megabits per second and upload speeds of 75 Megabits per second. It can supply up to 1200 users simultaneously. The employed drone is 3.65 meters long, 1.25 meters high and has a wingspan of 4.85 meters. 

Source: Deutsche Telekom media announcement