A survey for UAV open-source telemetry protocols

What is it about?

One of the most important sections on UAV technologies is the telemetry communication. Due to the growing needs of UAV applicationsa number of telemetry protocols are available. Different telemetry protocols can be used in several applications. In this paper we adducethe most important open-source telemetry protocols and their main features. For the most critical UAV application domains we presentthe most significant telemetry protocols and their characteristics. Afterwards, we compare and classify the telemetry protocols, dependingthe needs of the UAV application domains. Finally, we propose the most suitable telemetry protocol for each UAV application domain.

Featured Image

Photo by Ma Ti on Unsplash

Photo by Ma Ti on Unsplash

Why is it important?

In recent times the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), have become an integral part of everyday life. UAVapplications are rapidly emerging, resulting in high investments and increment of job positions. Applications in healthsectors, military operations, vehicle speed monitoring, construction of small buildings and mapping of agricultural areas,are few examples of how UAVs contribute in our daily routine. Also, UAVs have important participation in criticalsituations such as flood and fire rescues, delivery essentials and network coverage in remote areas. The main domains thatinclude UAV applications are: Search and Rescue (SAR), construction, delivery of goods, monitoring and mapping, visualtracking and surveillance and network coverage provisioning. Hence, the UAVs demanding expectations must besupported by new ideas and revolutionary design implementations. The UAVs are now the most considerable systems forseveral application domains. This fact motivates the researchers to constantly develop and find solutions to meet thecontemporary demands. Especially, in the field of UAV communication there are many different approaches andimplementations. The UAVs’ communication function is based on the telemetry technologies and protocols. Telemetry onthe UAVs’ implementations is the configuration and data exchanged between the flight controller of the vehicle and theground station. Nowadays, there are several protocols which provide different kind of services. For instance, there manyprotocols that can be used for applications that require long distance, security, low cost etc. However, there is no clear pathfor the designer to decide which protocol is the more beneficial one according the requirements of a specific application.This fact leads to multiple choices and complexity. Choosing a telemetry protocol is crucial for meeting the UAVapplications requirements and for efficient operation in terms of performance and power consumption

Perspectives