5 ChinaIT.com G UAVs are one of the most innovative mobile communication applications. Although there are already many drones on the market, they are basically connected through WiFi and Bluetooth, which can only meet some entertainment experiences for people. In order to move from a narrow entertainment application space to a broader industry application market, drones are inseparable from the support of communication, and mobile 5G will bring new opportunities for drone applications.
5G connected UAV overall solution
Let's take a look at 9 application cases of 5G drones to feel what changes drones will bring to our lives in the upcoming 5G era.
1 VR live streaming
In the 4G era, the VR industry has been unable to achieve high-definition VR video live streaming due to bandwidth limitations in the 4G network environment, resulting in the slow development of VR live broadcast applications. With the arrival of 5G, VR live streaming is expected to usher in an outbreak. The 5G network can achieve an uplink single user experience rate of more than 100Mbps and an air interface delay of 10ms, which will make VR live broadcast smoother, clearer, and better user experience.
The drone shoots video through a 360-degree panoramic camera mounted on the drone body, and the panoramic camera transmits the 4K panoramic video to the streaming media server through the uplink through the CPE connected to the 5G network, and the user then pulls the stream from the server through VR glasses and PCs.
5G-based UAV VR live broadcast networking diagram
2 City and park security
The 5G network's large bandwidth and low latency real-time video stream is transmitted back to the control center, integrating AI deep learning capabilities, and fast video analysis to achieve multi-means target locking and real-time tracking and monitoring, and the control center can send control commands to the UAV flight control system through the 5G network, greatly improving the efficiency of traditional UAVs for security scenarios.
UAV city security system based on 5G
The combination of UAV and 5G realizes a variety of functions to achieve all-round security and control without dead ends:
1. The control center personnel present real-time viewing and synchronous linkage with ground security equipment through the 4K high-definition video of VR glasses, complementing each other's advantages and maximizing the ability of security scenes;
2. The control center personnel remotely control the steering of the UAV's on-board camera, the flight status and route of the UAV through the 5G network through the ground control terminal such as VR glasses and PAD, and further track and lock the target;
3. The UAV automatically tracks the prediction of sudden security scene problems and the realization of automatically identified targets.
Through the effective introduction of intelligent UAV flight platform and 5G cellular network capabilities, it has promoted the transformation of the traditional security industry like space-ground integrated collaborative operations and the intelligent upgrade of multi-scenario security capabilities, which will surely be more widely used as a new security solution model, thereby promoting the intelligent upgrading of traditional security service providers, thereby bringing it to the development of the entire industry.
3 HD live streaming
During the construction of the first landmark building "Civic Center" in Xiong'an New Area on the mainland, the high-definition video live broadcast of the drone provided a real-time picture from the air, which provided great convenience for observing the construction of the civic center up close.
Another important landscape in Xiong'an New Area - Baiyangdian, the high-definition live broadcast of drones can transmit the scenery of Baiyangdian to the temporary headquarters of the civic center 20km away in real time.
The live video broadcast adopts a professional-grade aerial photography drone that supports real-time transmission of 1080P 30-frame HD video, and transmits the high-definition video signal through the 5G network through the 5G TUE connected to it for visitors in the civic center.
5G-based UAV HD live broadcast networking
Schematic diagram of 5G-based UAV HD live broadcast
4 Power inspection
In power equipment, transmission lines are generally located in lofty mountains and uninhabited areas, and the efficiency of manual inspection of equipment defects is low, and it is not uncommon for small animals such as snakes, insects and ants to bite employees.
In addition, transmission towers, wires, insulators and other equipment are located at high altitudes, and UAV inspections can not only avoid the safety risks of high-altitude tower climbing operations, but also view the details of the equipment from a 360° full perspective to improve the quality of inspections.
The current 4G network can only support 1K image transmission, for some detail inspection, the clarity of video and pictures is obviously insufficient, while 5G network can achieve an uplink single user experience rate of more than 100Mbps, air interface delay of 10ms, will make real-time video smoother, clearer, patrol effect better.
Multi-rotor UAVs can be equipped with high-definition zoom cameras, infrared cameras, night vision cameras, lidar and other sensors, and the sensors transmit the video stream to the streaming media server through the uplink through the CPE connected to the 5G network, and then the user can watch the patrol from the server through the PC, so as to realize the instant transmission of high-definition video of the power line patrol.
Real-time backhaul of UAV 4K video, real-time uplink 30Mbps bandwidth; Multi-machine collaborative 360° panoramic shooting, redundant data collection, reduce GIS image 3D modeling failures caused by diagonal diagonal of inspection targets, inconsistent light, image missed shooting, etc., saving costs by 30~90%; The ground station and the management center carry out internal and external collaborative operations, immediately find problems and carry out image complex acquisition, and the operation efficiency is increased by 40~80%.
Schematic diagram of UAV power inspection
5 Base station inspection
The regular detection of base station antenna parameters is one of the most basic and important tasks in the maintenance of mobile communication systems.
Conventional manual climbing base station inspection is affected by many factors including weather, environment, instrumentation, personnel operation and other factors, resulting in low manual inspection efficiency and inability to complete tasks on time.
Through the 5G networked UAV base station inspection mode, the labor intensity is reduced, and the safety risk of manual tower climbing operation is reduced, and the inspection efficiency is improved and the time cost is saved.
The networked drone collects and shoots base station data and transmits the data back to the main server, manually processes the data, and compiles and generates reports.
Schematic diagram of UAV base station inspection
6 Drone water
UAVs are more and more widely used in water affairs, such as water quality monitoring, daily inspection, hydrological data acquisition, flood prevention and control, water and soil conservation monitoring, and so on. Connected drone water quality monitoring is an innovative application in water affairs.
UAV load multispectral camera for water body feature spectral acquisition, using the collected multispectral images, through the self-developed cluster analysis algorithm, the multispectral remote sensing image data for image clustering analysis for water quality characteristics, to obtain qualitative conclusions on water quality status. Combined with the sampling water sample testing data to obtain quantitative data, comprehensive analysis, can generally grasp the water quality of the monitored water.
Compared with the scheme of monitoring stations and manual inspection, the use of networked drones to obtain hydrological and water quality data covers a wide area, has lower cost and higher efficiency, and can realize real-time dynamic water quality monitoring and powerful hydrological water quality data acquisition capabilities in the whole river basin, and has broad market development prospects.
Schematic diagram of UAV water business
7 Drone logistics distribution
In recent years, major logistics companies at home and abroad have begun to deploy drone delivery business to achieve the purpose of saving manpower and reducing costs.
Through the 5G network, real-time monitoring, remote scheduling and control of logistics drone status can be realized.
During the working process of the drone, with the help of the large bandwidth transmission capability of the 5G network, the video taken by the on-board camera is transmitted back in real time, so that the ground personnel can understand the working status of the drone.
At the same time, ground personnel can remotely control the flight path of the drone through the low latency of the 5G network. In addition, combined with artificial intelligence technology, drones can automatically plan flight routes according to flight mission planning and real-time perception of the surrounding environment.
Schematic diagram of drone logistics
8 UAV emergency communication and rescue
The continent is vast, and its diverse environmental and climatic characteristics make natural disasters occur from time to time, so post-disaster relief efforts are particularly important.
Taking advantage of the strong flexibility of UAVs, when a disaster occurs, UAVs equipped with communication base stations are used to fly based on the planned route, triggering the mobile phones of the trapped people to access the airborne base station network, realizing the active positioning of the communication equipment of the trapped people, and confirming the location and identity information of the trapped persons.
At the same time, using the large bandwidth transmission capability of the 5G network, real-time shooting and transmitting back on-site high-definition video pictures through the on-board camera, combined with edge computing capabilities and AI technology, to achieve rapid personnel identification and surrounding environment analysis, which is convenient for rescuers to carry out targeted rescue work.
Through the combination of this product and traditional search and rescue methods, it can effectively reduce the search time, ensure that the trapped people can be effectively rescued in the first time, minimize casualties, and have significant social benefits.
Schematic diagram of UAV emergency communication and rescue
9 Field scientific observations
Field scientific observation refers to the long-term collection, data accumulation and measurement of ecological environment, animal and plant index elements under field conditions, to determine their change trends, and help researchers to conduct research, which is a basic research means in the fields of ecology and meteorology.
Field scientific observation sites are generally far from cities, and through the application of a variety of sensors, video surveillance equipment, data collectors, communication networks and other infrastructure, scientific research data collection, storage and transmission can be realized, forming an informationized research environment.
However, in the environment of the glaciers of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, and the Gobi of Xinjiang, the cost of setting up monitoring systems is high.
UAV flight based on planned route can realize wide coverage, low-cost video data and remote sensing data collection.
The 5G network increases the uplink transmission rate of monitoring video data and remote sensing data, reduces the delay of air interface, and improves the efficiency of field scientific observation.
Combined with the large bandwidth, low latency and high reliability performance of the 5G network, real-time observation of raw data and video data of the scientific observation system is realized.
For example, the sampling frequency of high-frequency raw stream data in the meteorological field is high (10Hz), and it is difficult to achieve real-time data transmission based on LTE network.
In addition, in the observation system architecture, edge computing is used to filter and calculate effective data locally, eliminate duplicate and invalid data, and improve system efficiency.
Schematic diagram of 5G UAV field scientific observation system
Source: Intercom World