Multi-Connectivity for UAVs: A Measurement Study of Integrating Cellular, Aerial Mesh, and LEO Satellite Links

2026-04-30

AI Summary

In highly heterogeneous multi-connected UAV networks, ensuring mere link connectivity is insufficient to meet the service continuity requirements of real-time applications. This work presents the first empirical distinction between connectivity continuity and service continuity through real flight experiments, revealing a critical gap between the two. Building upon Multipath TCP, the study integrates cellular, aerial mesh, and low Earth orbit satellite links to construct an end-to-end multipath transport testbed and conducts comprehensive performance measurements. The findings demonstrate that RTT heterogeneity across paths induces severe packet reordering and bursty delivery at the receiver, which—despite ample aggregate bandwidth—causes real-time streaming traffic to violate latency constraints. These insights underscore the need for novel multipath transport mechanisms explicitly designed for delay-sensitive services.

Abstract

Future uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) systems increasingly combine heterogeneous communication technologies, such as low-latency aerial mesh, terrestrial cellular, and satellite links, to improve robustness and coverage. Multipath transport is a natural mechanism for aggregating these links, yet its ability to support real-time UAV services in highly heterogeneous environments remains insufficiently characterized. We present a measurement-driven study based on UAV flight experiments in an integrated network comprising UAV-to-UAV aerial mesh, private cellular, and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity. Using Multipath TCP (MPTCP) as a representative lossless, in-order multipath transport framework, we find that aggregation can preserve end-to-end connectivity under severe link outages. However, large round-trip time (RTT) heterogeneity amplifies packet reordering, leading to substantial receiver-side buffering and bursty delivery. In addition, when the available links do not provide sufficient capacity for the offered load, pronounced sender-side buffering emerges. These effects cause real-time streaming to violate delay constraints, including cases where aggregate capacity is sufficient. To interpret these results, we formalize the distinction between connectivity continuity and service continuity and show empirically that maintaining connectivity is necessary but not sufficient for timely real-time delivery in multi-technology UAV networks. The findings motivate multipath designs that explicitly account for delay constraints, rather than optimizing for connectivity alone.

Problem

• Multi-Connectivity
• UAV
• Real-time Services
• Delay Constraints
• Heterogeneous Networks

Innovation

• Multi-Connectivity
• Multipath TCP
• Heterogeneous UAV Networks
• Delay-Constrained Communication
• LEO Satellite Integration