Evaluation of Commercial Off-The-Shelf LTE Antennas for Use on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

In this study, different commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Long Term Evolution (LTE) antennas were evaluated for use on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Due to the existing infrastructure, the mobile radio network would be suitable for the use of UAVs. Therefore, antenna gain, reflection parameter as well as the radiation pattern of different, rather small and lightweight LTE antennas were measured. It was also investigated how the antenna pattern changes when two identical antennas are used and if a protective cover made out of glass fiber has an influence on the characteristic of the antennas.