Vodafone has tested using drones equipped with special light beams to temporarily reconnect mobile phone masts after the underground cable linking them is cut or damaged
Drones fitted with unique light beams could be the solution to reconnecting mobile phone masts when their underground cables are damaged or severed.
Vodafone, the mobile operator, has trialled this innovative technology from Alphabet’s X labs, Google’s parent company, in Spain. The tech uses light beams to transmit connectivity, and it was used to establish a temporary link between two points over three kilometres apart.
This trial showcased how a temporary mobile connection could be re-established if the underground cables connecting phone masts are damaged or cut, whether by accident during construction work, due to natural disasters, or through vandalism.
In Seville, the test involved two industrial-grade drones equipped with light beam terminals from a Google X project known as Taara. One drone was tethered to a phone mast and the other to a Vodafone data transport hub. Vodafone managed to set up a two-way connection for a brief period, suggesting that this could be a future solution for connectivity issues during emergencies or disaster recovery, as well as assisting with future infrastructure challenges.
Vodafone revealed that it currently deals with between 75 and 100 cable breaks annually. The mobile operator plans to showcase this technology at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona next month.
The company is also preparing to unveil what it terms a weather sensing network that utilises data collected by the operator as it modifies its mobile signal across Europe to counteract heavy rainfall – which can diminish signal strength.
It revealed it is currently collaborating with the European Space Agency and the UK Government to collect precise rainfall measurements and convert all the data into a weather map for regions that are inaccessible to existing weather observation posts.
