Wing Loong Now Becomes Air Base Station, Offering Reliable Internet

The Wing Loong I, also known as Yilong, China's first full composite material multi-purpose unmanned aerial drone, recently completed its first test as a carrier of wireless communication devices.

Based on core high-end aviation equipment technology, the platform is a main outcome of the company's new infrastructure construction and improved supporting capacity of aeronautical emergency equipment. It will contribute to high-development of the aeronautical emergency industry.

The project was jointly contracted by AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Design  &  Research Institute of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, Ltd. (AVIC), AVIC（Chengdu) UAS Company and subsidiaries of China Mobile Limited (China Mobile) in Ningxia Hui autonomous region and Sichuan province as well as China Mobile’s industrial institute in Chengdu.

The testing was conducted at an airport in Northwest China. The Wing Loong I common platform, carrying a wireless communication base station, climbed to the height of 3,000 to 5,000 meters and hovered in a circle with a radius of more than 3,000 meters. During the flight, more than 50 square kilometers were covered with stable and continuous internet, which was the largest area an air base station has ever covered in China.

The test was proof that the Wing Loong I common platform is able to conduct emergency communication and communication relay by carrying base station and satellite communication devices.

In response to emergencies operators at the base station on the unmanned drone can remotely control the Wing Loong I to take off from airports hundreds of kilometers away and provide continuous wireless internet to targeted regions.

Voice and video communications between the emergency command center's satellite communication ground station and the unmanned drone can also be operated through the airborne satellite communication devices and the relevant communication satellite.

Moreover, signals from the ground station can be directly connected with the regional core network of China Mobile to form a space-air-ground integrated emergency communication supporting system.

The long work time of the drone, up to 35 hours, effectively solves the problem of 24/7 communication and data transmission in isolated and remote areas, special regions and places where the infrastructure has been destroyed as a result of serious natural disasters like earthquake, floods and fires.

The project is a result of AVIC's participation in regional economic and social development and contribution to Sichuan's modern industrial system.

It is also a big part of the construction of Chengdu's aerospace industry and a new mode to push forward transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, adjust economic structure and  bring about change in the patterns of  advancing manufacturing development.

By playing its role as a main force in China's aeronautic emergency rescue equipment system, AVIC has been at the steering wheel driving and promoting high-quality self-development of the aeronautic emergency equipment industry.

A Wing Loong I full composite material multi-purpose unmanned aerial drone in operation [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)