5G Above the Tree Tops – Tethered Drones with Wireless Technology for Connected Timber Harvesting
The lack of cellular coverage in the forest poses a challenge for future applications in connected timber harvesting, for which a constant internet connection for the harvesters is essential. The trees in the forest cause significant weakening of radio signals. But what is the situation above the tree canopy?
As part of the Smart Forestry subproject, research is currently being conducted on this topic, and solutions for “Always Online” in the forest are being developed. In a joint effort between Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences and the company VALOFLY, wireless network tests were conducted in the forest. During these tests, mobile network performance (reception quality, bandwidth, and much more) was measured at various elevations within the forest. Among other things, a 5G router was attached to a tethered drone for this purpose.
Initial measurements were conducted on February 13, 2024, in a wooded area near Einbeck that, according to the mobile network coverage map provided by public mobile network providers, has no coverage. The initial measurements showed that, above the tree canopy (approx. 25 m AGL), a large number of mobile network cells could be received. At a flight altitude of 45 meters, bandwidths of 100 Mbit/s, for both uploads and downloads, were achieved at that location via the public cellular network.
Shortly afterwards, another flight was conducted south of Königslutter am Elm. The launch site was chosen within a valley that had no network coverage. The results from the first measurement were replicated, with stable internet coverage achieved as soon as the drone flew above the treetops.
In addition, tests using directional Wi-Fi were conducted during both measurement campaigns. These tests are intended to enable the connection of forestry machines to the Internet via the 5G router on the drone. Ranges of 1 km were achieved in these tests.
Publications
The results were published by Martin Böhm and Diederich Wermser under the title “Nomadic Internet Connectivity under Forest Canopy” at ieeexplore.ieee.org.
