Case study

Drone connectivity 3D visualization and analytics app to enable safe drone operations

Web app for safe beyond-visual-line-of-sight drone operations — 3D visualization and analytics that predict cellular-network connectivity parameters.

Published TagsData viz · GIS · Web app
Drone connectivity 3D visualization app — portfolio thumbnail

Overview

This web application, built around 3D visualization and analytics, enables safe beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone operations on cellular networks. Reliable cellular connections are the foundation of future drone operations; connection parameters are predicted using a radio-frequency model that draws on mobile-network cell database information.

Drone connectivity 3D visualization app running on a desktop — CesiumJS 3D earth with flight path and point-cloud network indicators
3D visualization on desktop — flight path and network point-cloud overlays.

Features

A GIS-inspired tool where operators explore a 3D Earth representation and interact with prediction outputs:

  • Render point clouds and volumetric geometries of network indicators (signal strength, interference) and aggregated regions from a rule engine
  • Freely define rules that determine safe flight parameters with minimum signal and maximum interference requirements
  • Analyze and visualize real-world measurement flights
  • Plan and perform simulated flights on mobile networks
  • Visualize flight-path analytics — safe corridors, serving cell connections, neighbor cells
Composite view of the 3D viz app — safe flight corridor, serving cell connections, and flight-path analytics panel side by side
App screenshots — safe-flight corridors, serving cells, and flight-path analytics.

Impact

Direct feedback on the RF prediction process and the data-exploration capabilities proved essential for understanding outcomes and spotting opportunities. The analytics + 3D visualization combination landed well with industry clients.

Companion projects for this client included the platform's company website and a landing page with branding for the drone-connectivity platform.