I-Corps: Drone-Carried WiFi Communication Infrastructure

无人机搭载的WiFi通信系统旨在为AT T和Verizon等商业基础设施被摧毁或无法使用的地方提供WiFi基础设施。这种情况的例子包括地震、农村地区和战场。无人机携带的WiFi通信系统可以提供快速部署和高度灵活的长距离WiFi链路，用于实时文本，电话和视频传输。 潜在客户包括应急响应机构，如联邦应急管理局和消防部门。借助无人机搭载的WiFi系统，紧急区域内的人们将能够通过电子邮件、Twitter、Facebook等与外界进行信息交流，救援团队也可以利用WiFi网络进行任务协调和信息共享。与其他现有的解决方案（如电信卡车）相比，无人机携带的WiFi系统可以更快，更灵活，更低的成本被派往目的地。这个I-Corps团队已经完成了无人机携带的WiFi alpha原型，并成功测试了空中的WiFi信号传输。实现远程WiFi传输的关键技术是使用定向天线而不是全向天线，将所有能量集中在一个方向上。虽然定向天线增加了传输范围，但它们要求发射机始终面对接收机。为了实现这一目标，该团队开发了一种航向控制，可以自动对齐两个天线的航向，尽管无人机的机动性很高。在这个项目中，该团队的目标是将可演示的无人机携带的按需信息基础设施转移到市场上。该项目的成功将导致无人机网络通信基础设施的设计，开发和商业化的新启动。

The drone-carried WiFi communication system aims to provide WiFi infrastructure where commercial infrastructures such as AT&T and Verizon are destroyed or not available. Examples of such situations include earthquakes, rural areas and battlefields. The drone-carried WiFi communication system can provide fast-deployable and highly-flexible long-distance WiFi link for real-time text, phone, and video transmission. Potential customers include emergency response agencies such as FEMA and fire departments. With the drone-carried WiFi system, people in the emergency zone will be able to connect to outside world for information exchange through email, twitter, facebook, etc. The rescue team can also utilize the WiFi networks for task coordination and information sharing. Comparing to other existing solutions such as telecommunication trucks, the drone-carried WiFi systems can be dispatched to the destination faster, more flexibly, and with lower cost. This I-Corps team has completed the drone-carried WiFi alpha-prototype and successfully tested the WiFi signal transmission in the air. The key technology to enable long-range WiFi transmission is to use directional instead of omnidirectional antennae by focusing all the energy in one direction. While directional antennae increase the transmission range, they require the transmitter to always face the receiver. To achieve this, the team has developed a heading control to automatically align the headings of the two antennae, despite the high mobility of drones. In this project, the team aims to transfer the demonstrable drone-carried on-demand information infrastructure to the market place. The success of this project will lead to a new start-up on the design, development and commercialization of communication infrastructures for drone networks.