Drone controlled from anywhere over multi-modal network

A system allowing drones to be controlled from anywhere in the world using only an intrrnet connection has been developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory run by the US Department of Energy.

The technology is being licensed by Horizon31, of Knoxville, Tennessee. The founding team of Horizon31 developed the technology at Oak Ridge.

“To make these unmanned systems commercially viable – if you want to deliver packages, for instance – you have to be able to move beyond visual line of sight,” says Horizon31 CEO Andrew Harter, “in a lot of situations, you’re not going to have someone on the ground watching the entire time.”

Called the Multimodal Autonomous Vehicle Network, or MAVNet, it uses redundant connections in different communications links like satellite, cellular and local signals.

MAVNet’s cloud-based data storage allows for multiple people to operate the system simultaneously and for one person to control multiple vehicles.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency within the Department of Defense supported the initial research.