Smartphone chip manufacturer Qualcomm has successfully completed an aerial cellular communications test with the help of drones. The company back in September 2016 had stated that an unmanned aerial testing process for commercial LTE networks would begin with the help of popular cell services provider AT&T. The press release mentioned about future proofing them so upcoming standards like 5G would be easier to implement.
Going back to their statement, Qualcomm wanted to analyze as to how U0AS(unmanned aircraft system) would help in operating safe and secure 4G communications by concentrating on elements that would impact future operations. That said, the team was also looking at covering key specifics like signal coverage and strength while also studying about their functionality in air.
Qualcomm had specifically developed a drone based on their Snapdragon flight development platform designed to offer superior navigational and control capabilities by making use of 4K videography, high-fidelity image processing etc. Their field engineers for the past months now has already been testing the newly built UAS at their San Diego Center and has now come up with the results from their tests.
Qualcomm has uploaded their first test report online for everybody to download and study more about it if required. The results revealed that there's a strong viability of the current 4G standards serving at operating altitudes beyond the visual line of sight. The report mentions that Qualcomm made use of 1000 test flights to collect all information which was then processed for further analysis.
This is a great achievement not just for Qualcomm but for several other service providers since the reports indicated very strong signal strength even at higher altitudes than on-ground mobile devices due to an availability of a totally free space in the air. While 5G technology standards are still being tested in regions like South Korea, the majority of the world is still struggling to procure 4G even in certain developing nations.
