We are a project team, and we need to transmit live video for our competition. On our UAV, we are using a Rocket AC5 Lite WiFi AP, and on the ground station, we are using a Nanostation AC antenna. However, when the UAV is in flight, the live video feed disconnects or becomes very weak. We need to solve this issue to ensure high-quality, uninterrupted video transmission.
We have placed the Rocket AC5 Lite inside the UAV and connected it to the antennas located at the front of the UAV via antenna cables. The antennas we are currently using are 3dBi noname antennas. I am researching higher-quality antennas that can be mounted on the UAV, but I haven’t been able to find suitable options.
Could anyone recommend antennas that are small enough to be used on the UAV or suggest alternative devices to solve this issue? The maximum range we aim to achieve is 3km, which would be sufficient for our needs.
I think you will need to use a directional antenna on your ground station to focus the signal in the direction of the aircraft, so put a pair of RP-SMA 5.8ghz FPV antennas like pagoda for the aircraft
and on the ground router add a pagoda antenna along with a helical or patch antenna pointing in the direction its flying. that will give you coverage around you and long distance in a specific direction.
you could also change some settings on the routers,
turn up the output power,
enable point to point mode
reduce channel width to 10mhz
set a fixed wifi data rate, it only needs to be fast enough for your data.
the Ubiquiti routers have a spectrum analyser built in so check there is no interference on the channel you are trying to use.
Thank you very much for your valuable response. We are using a Nanostation 5 AC on the ground station, but it doesn’t have an antenna input. However, as you mentioned, I definitely want to use a helical or patch antenna. Could you suggest any devices that would allow me to use these antennas, or is there a way to connect these antennas to the Nanostation?
I have taken note of your suggestions for the routers interface and will definitely implement them. We are currently in the production phase, and I will conduct the necessary tests during trial flights.
You were referring to a helical antenna like the one in the second photo for the ground station, right? That’s how I understood it, which is why I mentioned that I wouldn’t be able to connect it to the Nanostation 5 AC.
sorry I didn’t see that you had a nanostation, I thought you had the rocket on both ends. its generally not a good idea to mix linier and circular antennas.
Try the wifi settings first and see if that improves things. I haven’t used the newer ubiquiti AC routers just the older rocket/nanostation /bullet M2 and M5.
