Drone technology is expected to become a $100 Billion market by 2020. The ripples of their increasing popularity can be observed in both industry and government. For instance, the spectrum issues related to drone communications are now starting to be considered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and industry. While the debate on which one to choose has already begun and is expected to go on for several years, many fundamental questions remain open, in particular the reliability of wireless connections between ground stations and drones, which is critical for both safety and applications (e.g., streaming of video from a forest fire), as well as for the topic of coexistence between a drone and terrestrial networks (DroTerNets). The Wireless Devices and Systems (WiDeS) group led by Prof. Molisch has an ongoing research project funded by NSF to investigate these aspects in detail.
(NSF Grant Number CNS-1923601)