The Recent Advancement in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Tracking Antenna: A Review
Anabi Hilary Kelechi,
Mohammed H. Alsharif,
Damilare Abdulbasit Oluwole,
Philip Achimugu,
Osichinaka Ubadike,
Jamel Nebhen,
Atayero Aaron-Anthony,
Peerapong Uthansakul
Affiliations
Anabi Hilary Kelechi
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Faculty of Air Engineering, AirForce Institute of Technology, Kaduna 800282, Nigeria
Mohammed H. Alsharif
Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Electronics and Information Engineering, Sejong University, 209 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 05006, Korea
Damilare Abdulbasit Oluwole
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Faculty of Air Engineering, AirForce Institute of Technology, Kaduna 800282, Nigeria
Philip Achimugu
Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Computing, AirForce Institute of Technology, Kaduna 800282, Nigeria
Osichinaka Ubadike
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Faculty of Air Engineering, AirForce Institute of Technology, Kaduna 800282, Nigeria
Jamel Nebhen
College of Computer Engineering and Sciences, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 151, Alkharj 11942, Saudi Arabia
Atayero Aaron-Anthony
Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Covenant University, Ota 112233, Ogun State, Nigeria
Peerapong Uthansakul
School of Telecommunication Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000, Thailand
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) antenna tracking system is an electromechanical component designed to track and steer the signal beams from the ground control station (GCS) to the airborne platform for optimum signal alignment. In a tracking system, an antenna continuously tracks a moving target and records their position. A UAV tracking antenna system is susceptible to signal loss if omnidirectional antenna is deployed as the preferred design. Therefore, to achieve longer UAV distance communication, there is a need for directional high gain antenna. From design principle, directional antennas are known to focus their signal energy in a particular direction viewed from their radiation pattern which is concentrated in a particular azimuth direction. Unfortunately, a directional antenna is limited by angle, thus, it must always be directed to the target. The other limitation of a UAV mechanical beam steering system is that the system is expensive to maintain and with low reliability. To solve this problem, we are proposing the use of MIMO technology as a readily available technology for UAV beyond line of sight technology. Although UAV antenna tracking is domiciled in the mechanical beam steering arrangement, this study shows that this native technology could be usurped by MIMO beam forming.
