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AT&T Advances 5G Protection with Flying COW Drones
by DRONELIFE Employees Author Ian M. Crosby
This previous April, the AT&T drone group took to a area in rural Missouri to check its new Flying COW® (Cell on Wings), marking the primary time AT&T has transmitted its 5G community from a drone.
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“We had intermittent, weak LTE sign on the flight location earlier than we launched the 5G Flying COW,” stated Ethan Hunt, UAS Principal Program Supervisor at AT&T. “We flew the drone as much as about 300 ft, turned on the sign and it started transmitting robust 5G protection to roughly 10 sq. miles.”
This could enable prospects with 5G suitable gadgets within the space to go from no service to super-fast wi-fi connections in a matter of seconds, with potential use instances akin to helping first responders in search and rescue missions.
“Drones might use 5G for command and management or to stream video, however the AT&T 5G Flying COW is the one drone that gives a 5G community,” added Hunt.
Whereas AT&T has been utilizing its Cell on Wings expertise for years to transmit LTE protection throughout huge occasions and disasters, the brand new 5G Flying COW® might show to be essential in offering higher community efficiency and an improved expertise.
“Our focus inside the drone world is connectivity. All of our drone options have that focus,” stated AT&T’s UAS Program Director Artwork Pregler. “5G brings numerous new functionality to the desk. We will join a bigger variety of gadgets with 5G. After we put that up, we will share with a bigger inhabitants. It’s enabling much more options, together with human-to-machine interface that at the moment are succesful that wasn’t beforehand attainable.”
“We’re presently working by means of many thrilling technical challenges to increase the capabilities of our Flying COWs®,” stated Pregler. “We’re working to autonomously fly with out tethers for months with out touchdown, utilizing solar energy to supply safe, dependable, and quick 5G connectivity to massive numbers of customers over huge geographic areas. This answer might someday assist convey broadband connectivity to rural and different underserved communities throughout the U.S. and elsewhere.”
The AT&T drone group can be testing Past Visible Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations, enabling the pilot to function a drone from a totally totally different location. The present flight management system permits tethered Flying COWs® to be separated by 1000’s of miles, basically working BVLOS already. Nevertheless, the group is presently engaged on launching untethered Flying COWs® to supply 5G connectivity at BVLOS areas.
Learn extra about AT&T:
Ian attended Dominican College of California, the place he obtained a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong ardour for writing and storytelling and a eager curiosity in expertise, he’s now contributing to DroneLife as a workers author.
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, knowledgeable drone providers market, and a fascinated observer of the rising drone trade and the regulatory surroundings for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles centered on the business drone area and is a global speaker and acknowledged determine within the trade. Miriam has a level from the College of Chicago and over 20 years of expertise in excessive tech gross sales and advertising for brand new applied sciences.
For drone trade consulting or writing, Electronic mail Miriam.
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