Radio Spectrum Requirements of Control and Non-Payload Communications Links for Future Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Abstract

The planned introduction of unmanned aircraft (UA) systems (UAS) into non-segregated civil airspace will require highly reliable radio links to enable remote pilots to maintain operational control and ensure safe operation. The safety-critical functions of those control and non-payload communications (CNPC) links distinguishes them from “payload” links (e.g., area-surveillance data downlinks) that, although essential to UAS missions, are not needed for piloting. Enough spectrum must be allocated to meet the individual and aggregate bandwidth requirements of the CNPC links. Obtaining all the spectrum needed is a major challenge, since competing uses already exist for every usable frequency band of significant size. In this paper we describe our work in preparing for the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) to support the quest for protected UAS CNPC spectrum. We analyze the bandwidth requirements of the CNPC system, identify suitable frequency bands, describe a potential system architecture, and demonstrate that such a system can coexist with other radio systems using the same bands.