Field Experimentation of Cots-Based UAV Networking

Low-cost and high-performance commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) wireless equipment, such as IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN ("Wi-Fi"), has so advanced that it is now practical to use it in small low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This new capability has inspired many novel application ideas in UAV networking. We argue that field experimentation of UAV networking is essential in collecting link measurement data, developing network protocols and applications, and evaluating their performance in realistic environments, and that it is feasible to conduct these experiments cost-effectively with COTS-based equipment. We describe several ongoing field experiments and initial results. Lastly, we briefly describe future testing plans as well as suggest methods of facilitating rapid and inexpensive UAV networking field experimentation