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Table of Contents
Part 2: The $45 Billion Dollar Commercial UAV BVLOS Challenge
…if your connectivity solution can pass regulatory approval
The commercial UAV BVLOS challenge…
In Part 1, we discussed the opportunity within the emerging multibillion-dollar commercial UAV/BVLOS opportunity.
Any industry poised for explosive growth has a proportional volume of challenges for those companies looking to thrive within the opportunity. For BVLOS UAV, those challenges lie within regulatory approval.
The most critical factor in obtaining regulatory approval is demonstrating the supreme reliability of your platform. Regulators have already demonstrated their attention will be focused on command and control operations with virtually unbroken connectivity during the flights of BVLOS drones for commercial use.
Established and emerging commercial BVLOS operators and suppliers have been tireless in their search for technologies that provide uninterrupted and redundant connectivity – but their search has been compounded by a multitude of related factors.
These factors include connection type, bandwidth availability, and of course the relative costs. Not to mention the cost, weight, and battery consumption of the UAV connectivity enablement technology.
From VLOS to BVLOS…
The most common connectivity solutions are Radio Frequency, Cellular, and Satellite.
Radio Frequency is not viable for expanding commercial BVLOS operations; Cellular connectivity is viable, provides the necessary bandwidth and costs do not cannibalize healthy profit margins. Cellular connectivity, however, poses reliability issues with potential cellular provider connectivity low zones or dead spots during BVLOS missions. Satellite is a viable option, has excellent range, but is hampered by latency, and more critically, the expense-to-profit ratio associated with Satellite makes it functional, but prohibitive for main connectivity.
The cellular opportunity
Cellular, therefore, poses the best option, but regulators consider a single cellular connectivity link as perilous. According to regulators, UAV/Drones must possess a failover option, which means that single link-based commercial operations are unacceptable. Even leveraging the highly anticipated 5G networks presents insurmountable short-term issues and long-term risks. 5G isn’t expected to be readily available to support commercial BVLOS flights at scale for years. This will hinder growth for commercial BVLOS operators tremendously. Even as coverage grows, 5G tower to UAV will experience interference, which is more probable than possible. A loss of connection will be critical in its results, which means regulators will not see single-link 5G connectivity as a reliable and therefore a certifiable option.
The definitive challenge to overcome is connectivity; reliable, redundant, cost-effective, and regulatory-approved.
In Part 3, we discuss the connectivity solutions available today, and those engineered for the scale and growth of tomorrow’s $ 45 billion BVLOS industry.
Click here to access Part 1 of this article; The $45Billion Dollar commercial UAV BVLOS Opportunity
Click here to access Part 3 of this article; The Commercial UAV BVLOS solution
FAQs
1. What are the main connectivity options for BVLOS drone operations, and what are their advantages and limitations?
BVLOS operators typically rely on cellular (LTE/5G), satellite, or hybrid communications. Cellular networks provide broad coverage and scalability but depend on network availability. Satellite extends connectivity into remote areas but can add cost, latency, and weight. Hybrid multilink solutions combine the strengths of multiple networks while reducing the limitations of any single technology.
2. What do regulators require for BVLOS approval regarding command-and-control reliability and redundancy?
Regulators generally require operators to demonstrate that command-and-control communications are reliable, resilient, and supported by appropriate fail-safe procedures. The requirements often include evidence of redundant connectivity, lost-link contingencies, operational risk assessments, and the ability to maintain safe flight operations if communications degrade or fail.
3. When will 5G be a viable primary connectivity solution for large-scale BVLOS operations?
5G is already enabling BVLOS operations in many areas with mature network coverage. However, coverage remains inconsistent across some rural and remote regions. For the foreseeable future, most large-scale BVLOS operations will benefit from combining 5G with LTE, satellite, or other communications technologies to achieve the reliability required for commercial deployment and regulatory acceptance.
4. How do weight, power draw, and cost compare between multilink cellular solutions and satellite failover?
Multilink cellular solutions generally offer a favorable balance of performance, weight, power consumption, and cost for most BVLOS missions. Satellite connectivity can provide valuable coverage in remote areas but often introduces additional hardware, power requirements, and service costs. Many operators use satellite selectively as part of a broader multilink communications strategy rather than as the primary connection.
5. How does Elsight’s solution provide the redundant, low-latency connectivity needed for regulatory certification?
Halo simultaneously aggregates multiple LTE, 5G, satellite, and other public and private networks into a single resilient communications platform. It continuously monitors network performance and automatically reroutes traffic across the best available links when conditions change. This multilink redundancy helps maintain reliable command-and-control communications, supports low-latency data transmission, and strengthens the communications framework often required for BVLOS certification and approval processes.
