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Multi-Connectivity for UAVs: A Measurement Study of Integrating Cellular, Aerial Mesh, and LEO Satellite Links
Airbus Central Research and Technology, Germany.
KTH, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), Communication Systems.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5298-7490
KTH, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), Communication Systems. Aalborg University, Denmark.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8517-7996
KTH, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), Communication Systems.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0525-4491
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2026 (English)In: 2026 Joint European Conference on Networks and Communications and 6G Summit, EuCNC/6G Summit 2026, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) , 2026, p. 745-750Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Future uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) systems increasingly combine heterogeneous communication technologies, such as low-latency aerial mesh, terrestrial cellular, and satellite links, to improve robustness and coverage. Multipath transport is a natural mechanism for aggregating these links, yet its ability to support real-time UAV services in highly heterogeneous environments remains insufficiently characterized. We present a measurement-driven study based on UAV flight experiments in an integrated network comprising UAV-to-UAV aerial mesh, private cellular, and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity. Using Multipath TCP (MPTCP) as a representative lossless, in-order multipath transport framework, we find that aggregation can preserve end-to-end connectivity under severe link outages. However, large round-trip time (RTT) heterogeneity amplifies packet reordering, leading to substantial receiver-side buffering and bursty delivery. In addition, when the available links do not provide sufficient capacity for the offered load, pronounced sender-side buffering emerges. These effects cause real-time streaming to violate delay constraints, including cases where aggregate capacity is sufficient. To interpret these results, we formalize the distinction between connectivity continuity and service continuity and show empirically that maintaining connectivity is necessary but not sufficient for timely real-time delivery in multi-technology UAV networks. The findings motivate multipath designs that explicitly account for delay constraints, rather than optimizing for connectivity alone.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) , 2026. p. 745-750
Keywords [en]
aerial mesh, low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, multipath transport, terrestrial cellular networks, uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs)
National Category
Computer Sciences Transport Systems and Logistics Communication Systems
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-386134DOI: 10.1109/EuCNC/6GSummit68295.2026.11577600Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105044427388OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-386134DiVA, id: diva2:2088305
Conference
2026 Joint European Conference on Networks and Communications and 6G Summit, EuCNC/6G Summit 2026, Malaga, Spain, Jun 02 2026 - Jun 05 2026
Note

Part of ISBN 9798331570194

QC 20260727

Available from: 2026-07-27 Created: 2026-07-27 Last updated: 2026-07-27Bibliographically approved

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Meer, Irshad AhmadÖzger, MustafaCavdar, Cicek

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