Flat-panel Starlink terminal mounted on a vehicle roof beneath an open sky, illustrating the mounting and sky-view problem for airborne installations. — A flat-panel Starlink terminal on a mobile roof mount, a ground-based analogue for aircraft mounting and sky-view constraints. Photo: Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic. Changes: Resized from the original to 1920 x 1440; no other edits.

Drone technologytechnical explainer12 min read

Can a Drone Use Starlink? Weight, Power, Coverage, and C2 Limits

A technical guide to carrying Starlink on a drone, including installed mass, aircraft power, antenna placement, networking, data roles, resilience, and alternatives.

Prototype command-and-control radio and connected cables in a test rack aboard a NASA S-3 research aircraft. — A prototype UAS command-and-control radio in a test rack aboard NASA's S-3 Viking. Photo: NASA / Jim Griner.

Drone technologytechnical explainer7 min read

How Much Bandwidth Does a Drone Need? C2, Telemetry, Video, and Payload Data

A calculation-based method for sizing drone uplink and downlink capacity for command, telemetry, video, and payload data without relying on one universal Mbps figure.

Drone technologytechnical explainer8 min read

How Secure Are BVLOS Drone Communications? Encryption, Redundancy, and Link Risk

Assess BVLOS drone communications across encryption, authentication, integrity, availability, redundancy, shared dependencies, monitoring, and recovery.