Test Bed for a Wireless Network on Small UAVs

Small (10kg) UAVs are low-cost low-risk candidates for emerging UAV applications. Examples include multi-UAV swarming, flocking, and sensing operations; or, as a communication relay for a network of ground radios mounted at fixed sites, on vehicles, or in sensors. A key enabler is the ability of the UAVs to communicate with each other and with ground based radios as a distributed peer-to-peer ad hoc network. Such networks allow any two radio nodes to communicate directly or through an arbitrary number of intermediate nodes which act as relays. Thus, understanding the performance of such networks in these UAV scenarios is necessary to understand the limits of multi-UAV operations. The University of Colorado has developed and built a wireless network test bed using IEEE 802.11b (WiFi) radio equipment mounted on small low-cost UAVs. This paper describes the testbed and its monitoring architecture. The testbed gives detailed data on network throughput, delay, range, and connectivity under different operating regimes. These results enable us to better document and characterize real ad hoc network behavior among UAVs.