UAV communication system integrated into network traversal with mobility

In this paper, a secured unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-assisted heterogeneous network environment, and seamless IP prototype is proposed. UAV is controlled over the Internet to resolve a long-range communication barrier and to improve remote sensing. In the new technology, a pilot can control UAV via an end device (ED)-secured communication without any information about the network architectures, network address translation types, Internet protocol version. Network traversal with mobility (NTMobile) offers a secured communication for UAV through a public network infrastructure. NTMobile enhances the security and maintain mobility by generating keys and building tunnel using virtual IPs for two nodes inside the network. In the prototype the UAV flight controller can install a ground control station application on the UAV board. An ED can be any smart device connected to the Internet with the ability to run the remote protocols, which allows the pilot to send commands and receives data from UAV. Moreover, the pilot transmits commands through the remote desktop protocol or secure shell protocol. Experimentally, an autopilot mission is designed and uploaded to the flight controller where UAV and ED are forced to switch access network between cellular network LTE and 802.11a IEEE wireless local area network in specific waypoints. The novelty of this study is proposing secure continuous connectivity of the UAV communication and control system even during the occurrence of a network switch, which is one of the important factor in the heterogeneous network environment. The results revealed that NTMobile maintains continuous communication by re-establishing the created tunnel between UAV and ED in the proposed prototype while both are travelling in a heterogeneous network.