Celluar Secure Video Transmission from an Unmanned Aircraft

The growing capabilities of unmanned aircraft have garnered attention from the commercial and defense industries. Demand for unmanned aircraft that can transmit data over long distances in a secure fashion is on the rise. The designed system can establish a secure connection through the user controller and a camera attached to the unmanned aircraft’s flight controller by encrypting and transmitting data over the LTE network in real time. The system can operate as long as both the user and unmanned aircraft are within range of any LTE network, no matter the distance between them. The secure encryption of both real-time video and unmanned aircraft controls limits the threat of third-party attackers learning more about the system’s operations. By connecting the camera to the unmanned aircraft controller, both video stream and commands are encrypted and decrypted over the link to the user’s control station. The system demonstrates advanced, commercially available capabilities for unmanned aircraft to transmit data to a user over unlimited range, contingent on each component being within range of popular LTE networks.