An initiative funded by the National Science Foundation announced the total availability of a wireless test bench for network communications and experimentation with unmanned aerial systems.
The Office of Advanced Wireless Research Platforms (PAWR) said on Tuesday that Aerial experimental and research platform for advanced wireless connection (AERPAW) is now available to demonstrate drone flights and software-defined radio experiments in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The test bench consists of two fixed network nodes located on the Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University and a fixed node tower at Lake Wheeler Field Laboratory, along with two air-mounted nodes on custom drones and one mobile node on a ground rover.
“The AERPAW platform combines a uniquely programmable wireless network with custom drones to enable exploration of both airspace and wireless connectivity via 4G, 5G and beyond,” they said. Ismail Guvench, chief bench researcher and engineering engineer in North Carolina.
The NSW-funded PAWR program, co-sponsored by US Ignite and Northeastern University, also manages POWDER test bench in Salt Lake City, Utah and COSMOS project in West Harlem, New York.
He is working on a fourth test bench, called ARA, in Ames, Iowa, for rural broadband connectivity.