Standards Development

Scope

The scope of the proposed standard is to specify communication protocols for physical and data link layer used by drones and related equipment operating at low altitude (G airspace).

This standard describes three types of communication and comprise the following parts.

Part 1: Communication model and requirements: this includes drone communication service requirements, communication model of synchronous wireless distributed communication, the purpose of the three types of communication and related services, interoperation of three types of communication, interworking with higher layers.

Part 2: Physical and data link protocols for shared communication: Used for exchange information among drone, drone controller, obstacle device, and landing device using shared communication resources. The main use of the shared communication is to provide autonomous collision avoidance services.

Part 3: Physical and data link protocols for control communication: One-to-one communication between a drone and a drone controller.

Part 4: Physical and data link protocols for video communication: One-to-one communication to transmit video from a drone to a video receiver. For the specific use of video communication, video can be transmitted from a drone to multiple receivers.

Purpose

The purpose of this standard is to provide drone communication service that satisfies stability, economy and convenience in G airspace. First, the current drone service does not prevent collision between drones, and it is difficult to perform stable control with a mobile network. In addition, when performing control using a mobile network, a communication fee must be paid to a mobile communication company. When a large number of drones operate, it is very complicated to approve their operation and allocate related communication resources. This is because the operation of drones can be dynamically changed by various factors such as weather and mission changes. This standard uses wireless distributed communication to meet stability, economy and convenience. Wireless distributed communication is characterized in that each unit allocates wireless communication resources by itself. Since drone service-related units allocate their own radio resources without a control station, they can use the service almost free of charge anywhere, and dynamically and flexibly adapt themselves to environmental changes. In particular, in order to secure communication stability, this standard proposes a method to allocate resources stably and to occupy them continuously without collision after allocation.

Drones operating at low altitude (G airspace) will provide a variety of commercial services in the near future.

For such commercial drone services, This standard provides three types of communications. First, the shared communication enables drones and related equipment to mutually recognize and exchange information using common resources. This allows drones to avoid collisions autonomously. This is because drones can recognize each other and negotiate their paths using shared communication. If the drone is equipped with a 3D map, the drone can avoid buildings and obstacles by using the map, and can avoid other drones by shared communication. Accordingly, drone operation stability at invisible distance, which is essential for commercial drone service, may be secured. The control communication allows the drone controller to perform stable and continuous control of drones. Stable control communication is essential for commercial drone services because it eliminates the risk of communication interruption occurred in WIFI or LTE network. The video communication enables drones to transmit video continuously and reliably to video receivers. These characteristics of defined video communication technology ensures continuous communication quality needed to commercial drone service company.

These three types of communication are essential for the realization of commercial drone services at low altitudes (G airspace).