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(Note: this blog post first appeared as a guest post by Elsight CTO, Roee Kashi, on the T-Mobile blog.)
When in areas as remote and beautiful as Virgin, Utah it can sometimes be difficult to get a reliable phone signal. So how did T-Mobile and drone logistics and delivery company, DroneUp, manage to deliver fresh cans of Red Bull to Rampage athletes responsible for creating the courses they’ll ride down?
Simple, with help from Elsight and our Halo connectivity system.
Table of Contents
5G Drone Connectivity
At Elsight, we provide software and hardware technology solutions to facilitate reliable network connections and our Halo system can aggregate multiple LTE and 5G links from multiple carriers and prioritize those links in the aggregation tunnel. This means we can outfit a drone to receive signals from different carriers and prioritize which one we want to use. If there happens to be a gap in the network on one of the links, Halo can switch to a new signal to ensure the drone doesn’t go down. This layer of backup is critical for all types of drone flights and becomes even more necessary as beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations get closer to being commercialized.
Halo also monitors and records traffic usage (i.e., how much data was sent/received from each link), and we can record the signal strength from all the modems with timestamps, 3D GNSS positioning, packet loss levels, and latency measurements which are all vital pieces of information to the team piloting the drone.
In the build-up to the mission in Utah, we worked closely with the T-Mobile and DroneUp teams to test T-Mobile’s 5G network on Standalone (SA) and Non-Standalone (NSA) 5G across multiple bands and found that T-Mobile’s 5G SA network locked on band N71 (600MHz) proved to be the easy choice to complete the mission.
How T-Mobile’s 5G SA Performed
To start, it’s important to highlight what 5G SA is. 5G solution by itself isn’t just an improvement of the radio protocol, but it introduces a whole new paradigm in cellular network design and brings the network core to the edge. In this instance, the drone flying the mission. 5G SA takes this a step further because it has its own dedicated core, meaning it doesn’t share radio or network resources with LTE users, a major strength when running applications that require low latency, like drones. T-Mobile happens to have the nation’s only nationwide 5G SA network and is one of the main reasons why the drone was able to perform so well. In fact, we were even able to demonstrate a direct connection between the drone and mobile ground control station over IPv6.
The second piece of the pie revolves around band n71. Drone operations are highly recommended over this band thanks to its ability to separate uplink and downlink bands for simultaneous transmission, which is extremely helpful when flying a drone in real-time. Again, it just so happens that T-Mobile is the only U.S. provider supporting n71 at 600MHz with its nationwide Extended Range 5G. Its range can even be extended up to 30% when in 5G SA only mode – meaning even more areas are covered in low-band 5G – which is critical to flights in rural areas like the one we performed at Rampage.
How 5G Connection was Preferred Over LTE and Other Carriers
During the event, Halo carried three modems: a 5G SA modem with T-Mobile (priority-1), an LTE modem with T-Mobile (priority-2), and an LTE modem connected to alternative cellular providers (priority-3). The icing on the cake? Using radio frequency recordings throughout the flight, we saw that all operations only ever used the T-Mobile 5G SA modem without ever needing to use the backup links. This means that even in rural Utah, T-Mobile’s 5G SA network performed so well the drone never needed to switch to the backup networks, with Halo experiencing zero drops and disconnects.
What makes Halo and the flights performed at Rampage even more special is how we were able to establish an encrypted tunnel from the drone to the cloud server which we used for both command and control over T-Mobile 5G.
T-Mobile’s excellent 5G network was the clear choice for this deployment and its 5G SA network executed the deployment perfectly, carrying all the data to and from the Halo system and the ground control station with ultra-low latency. T-Mobile’s network range and stability created the unique conditions necessary for Halo’s RF-over-5G, where local routing and ultra-low latency create ideal conditions for drone flights, which were easily achieved over the 5G SA network.
5G Connected Drones for Delivery
Commercial drone delivery technologies are quickly emerging and T-Mobile’s 5G network and our Halo system easily showcased how the Un-carrier has the reach and ability to perform unmanned aerial vehicle operations – especially in rural areas and even more so now that T-Mobile just upgraded it’s Ultra-Capacity to include 5G SA nationwide. The potential this creates offers an exhilarating prospect for future Halo deployments, especially when BVOS operations become the norm.
FAQs
1. How did the drone maintain uninterrupted 5G connectivity during the Rampage mission?
The drone maintained connectivity using Elsight’s Halo multilink communication platform, which aggregated multiple 5G and LTE links and continuously monitored available link conditions to optimize traffic routing in real time. This approach helped ensure stable command and control, telemetry, and video transmission throughout the mission, even in a challenging outdoor environment with significant terrain variation.
2. What is the Halo system, and how does it aggregate and prioritize multiple cellular links?
Halo is a multilink connectivity platform that aggregates multiple communication technologies, including LTE, 5G, Wi-Fi, mesh, and satellite networks, into a single, resilient connection. The platform continuously evaluates link quality and dynamically reroutes traffic via the best available links. Quality of service (QoS) policies prioritize mission-critical traffic, such as command and control traffic, over less time-sensitive data streams.
3. Why was T-Mobile 5G SA on band n71 chosen for this deployment, and what advantages did it provide?
T-Mobile’s standalone 5G network operating on band n71 was selected for its strong coverage and ability to support reliable long range connectivity. The low band spectrum provides broader coverage and improved signal propagation, helping maintain stable communications across challenging terrain while supporting high bandwidth data transmission.
4. What safety, encryption, and command-and-control measures are used during Halo flights?
Halo provides resilient command and control connectivity with AES-256-CBC encryption, VPN tunneling, and traffic distribution across multiple links. Halo’s multilink architecture helped maintain communications throughout the mission while supporting secure transmission of telemetry, control signals, and video data.
5. Is this solution ready for commercial BVLOS drone deliveries, and how can organizations pilot or purchase Halo?
Yes. Halo is designed to support commercial BVLOS operations, including drone delivery, public safety, inspection, and autonomous logistics missions. The platform provides the resilient communications infrastructure required for scalable BVLOS operations and supports Remote ID, UTM integration, and advanced fleet management workflows. Organizations can engage with Elsight to arrange demonstrations, proof of concept deployments, technical evaluations, and integration support tailored to their operational requirements.
