Hi everyone,
I am currently working on integrating a Starlink Mini onto a VTOL UAV in South Korea for maritime operations and would love to get some advice from anyone who has hands-on flight experience with this setup.
1. Mission Profile & System Setup
- Airframe: VTOL UAV
- Flight Profile: Maritime airspace (within 12 NM), 100 m AGL, cruise speed ~90 km/h
- Plan: Starlink Roam (100GB)
- Objective: Real-time video streaming and MAVLink telemetry downlink to GCS.
Hardware & Connectivity:
- Initial Setup: Raspberry Pi 4B running Mavlink-Anywhere over a NetBird P2P VPN. In static ground tests, the link held over a 200 km baseline, though the connection quality fluctuated between 40% and 100%.
- Current Setup: We recently switched to XBLINK SAT by XBSTATION. In static bench and ground tests, it has been holding a steady ~100% link. The hardware side is ready for flight testing, but we are running into a few policy and operational questions before taking off.
2. Operational Environment in South Korea (Land vs. Offshore)
In South Korea, in-motion usage is not permitted on land. During our vehicle ground tests, the Starlink Mini dropped connection with an “in-motion speed restricted” warning whenever the vehicle exceeded 50–60 km/h.
However, under the Roam plan, in-motion operation up to 160 km/h is officially supported in offshore waters within 12 nautical miles (territorial sea). Because of this, our flight path (cruising at ~90 km/h) is strictly planned for this offshore maritime zone where in-motion data links are allowed.
3. Starlink AUP vs. Real-World Setups
Starlink’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) restricts using the terminal for direct UAV control. Official support inquiries have mostly returned conflicting or automated responses—suggesting that airframe-mounted or in-flight use requires an enterprise Aviation plan, while Roam is strictly for portable ground or carry-on transport. (Reference URL Click Here)
At the same time, several commercial UAV vendors (such as Yangda, Orkid, and XBSTATION) have shared flight videos operating drones equipped with Starlink Mini units.
(Yangda Starlink Drone)
(Orkid Starlink Drone)
(XBSTATION Starlink Drone)
4. Looking for Real-World Community Insights
This has left us in a bit of a dilemma before our first test flight, and we would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has already put a Starlink Mini in the air on a fixed-wing or VTOL platform.
If you’ve tested this in the field, are you running standard Roam/Mobile plans in practice, or did you run into cutoffs that required an Aviation plan? We are mainly looking to use the link for downlink—monitoring telemetry and streaming video back to the GCS rather than primary manual control. If anyone has experience with link stability, speed limits in the air, or how to configure things reliably, your insights would be a huge help to our project.
Reference Videos:
Thanks in advance for any thoughts or shared experiences!