AERPAW New Features Overview��3^rd AERPAW Community Workshop (ACW)�May 27, 2025�

Ismail Guvenc, Professor, Department of ECE�North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC�Email: iguvenc@ncsu.edu

https://aerpaw.org/

Student Representation at ACW 2025

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• Florida Atlantic University (5)
• University of North Texas (4)
• Missouri University of Science and Technology (3)
• Florida International University (3)
• University of Central Florida (3)
• University of Missouri - Columbia (2)
• New York University (2)
• University at Buffalo (2)
• University of New Mexico (2)
• Mississippi State University (2)
• Georgia State University (2)
• University of Colorado Boulder (2)

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• Worcester Polytechnic Institute
• Southern Methodist University
• University of Texas at Arlington
• University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Oregon State University
• University of Arizona
• Durham Technical Community College
• Iowa State University
• University of Georgia
• University of Utah
• Florida Gulf Coast University
• University of Miami
• Kennesaw State University
• Sonoma State University
• Aalto University

47 Student Attendees from 27 universities (43 students funded by NSF support)

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Event Day 1 – Full Day (May 27, 2025)

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Event Day 2 – Full Day (May 28, 2025)

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Event Day 3 – Full Day (May 29, 2025)

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Event Day 4 – Half Day (May 30, 2025)

* Demo is subject to weather conditions, and we may need to continue in Talley on May 30^th if the weather does not cooperate.

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Orville

Wilbur

Date: December 1903

Location: Sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

• 1st flight: 120 feet - 12 seconds
• 2nd flight: 175 feet - 12 seconds
• 3rd flight: 200 feet - 15 seconds
• 4th flight: 852 feet - 59 seconds

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NSF Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR)

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AVAILABLE TODAY !!

ARA

Rural broadband wireless

Funded June 2021

Funded Sept. 2019

Funded Apr. 2018

Funded Apr. 2018

Phase-1 Availability: Nov. 2021

Phase-2 Availability: Feb. 2024

Phase-3 Availability (Expected): Aug. 2025

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Lavanya Sridharan,

NC State, Project Coordinator

Ed Rogers, NC State

Construction Permits

Ozgur Ozdemir, NC State SDRs, Keysight, Operations

Mike Barts, WRC-NC

RF, Towers, Antennas, Front Ends

Asokan Ram, WRC-NC 4G/5G Ericsson Deployment

Magreth Mushi,

NC State, Network Arch.

& Platform Operations

Alphan Sahin, USC

mmWave Experiment Development

Joshua Moore,

MSU, SDR Development

Chase Ueltschey, MSU

SDR Development

Christopher Roberts, NC State, Web Portal and Control Framework

Anil Gurses, NC State AERPAW Digital Twin

Mehedi Farhad, NC State, Unmanned Air and Ground Vehicles

Moahmed Rabeek Sarbudeen, NC State, RF Front Ends and O-RAN

Sunc Joon Maeng, NC State, Dynamic Radio Zones

AERPAW Timeline of Key Events and Milestones

Sep. 2019

• Project Launch
• Phase-0 Starts

Nov. 2021

• Phase-1 General Availability
• ACW Training Workshop 1

Mar. 2024

• Phase-2 General Availability
• AERPAW OTIC Announcement

Aug. 2025

Phase-3 General Availability Expected

May 2023

ACW Training Workshop 2

Dec. 2019

Phase-1 Starts

COVID 19 Pandemic

Mar. 2020

Aug. 2023

OTIC and Expand Supplements Received

AFAR Competition

June 2021

NRDZ Supplement Received

Spring 2025:

AADM Competition

May 2025: ACW #3

Transfer Operations to NC State OIT

Fiber installs at Lake Wheeler, tower construction, FCC permits, initial development of web portal

F’24 and S’25 Plugfests

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LW-3

LW-1

LW-2

LW-5

LW-4

NSF AERPAW Platform Overview

Centennial Campus Site

Lake Wheeler Field Farms Site

Phase-2 Flight Area

Phase-1 Flight Area

2.8 Kilometers

2.4 Kilometers

0.97 Kilometers

1 Kilometer

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AERPAW Digital Twin as a Development Environment for Canonical Experiments

(Operational)

(Operational)

(Expected to be Available in Aug. 2025)

Use Case Examples at the Intersection of Wireless Networks and UAS Autonomy

Student Challenge #1: AFAR

Student Challenge #2: AADM

All Development is Supported (Often Required) in the Digital Twin Before Moving to Testbed

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AERPAW LW1 Tower

Portable Node

Experimental TX Antenna

Experimental RX Antenna

Monitoring RX Antenna

Cellular

Modem

FAA

Beacon

GPS

Receivers

Batteries

Telemetry

Antennas

RC

Antennas

Large AERPAW Multicopter (LAM)

Small AERPAW Multicopter (SAM)

Portable Node

Portable Node

Small AERPAW Rover (SAR)

Drone Operations Center

Helikite Measurements During NC State Packapalooza (Aug. 27, 2022)

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AERPAW Users (Canonical Experiments)

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List of Sample Experiments (Radio)

6.1.1) srsRAN Experiments

• SE1: Multi-Node LTE SISO

• SE2: LTE Cell Scan

• SE3: Two-Node LTE MIMO

• SE4: Multi-Node IoT

• SE5: LTE Handover

• SE6: Single-Node 5G SA

6.1.2) OAI Experiments

• OE1: Two-Node LTE SISO

• OE2: 5G Stand Alone

6.1.3) GNU Radio Experiments

• GE1: OFDM TX-RX

• GE2: Channel Sounder

• GE3: LoRa PHY TX-RX

6.1.4) UHD Python-API Experiments

• UHD1: Spectrum Monitoring

• UHD2: IQ Collection

6.1.5) Keysight RF Sensor Experiments

• KRSE1: Spectrum Monitoring

• KRSE2: Signal Classification

• KRSE3: TDOA-Based Source Localization

6.1.6) Ericsson Experiments

• EE1: 5G Modem RF Logging in Idle mode

• EE2: 5G Modem RF Logging in Connected

• EE3-EE6: PawPrints, MIMO, Quectel Handover

6.1.7) Android Cellular Experiments

6.1.8) LoRa Experiments

6.1.9) Cellular Modem Experiments

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https://sites.google.com/ncsu.edu/aerpaw-user-manual/6-sample-experiments-repository/6-1-radio-software

Canonical Experiments

List of Sample Experiments (Vehicle and Traffic)

6.2) Vehicle Control Sample Experiments

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• VCS1: Preplanned Trajectory
• VCS2: GPS Logger
• VCS3: Multiple Vehicle Coordination
• VCS4: Autonomous Vehicle Control

6.3) Traffic Generation Sample Software

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• TGS1: Ping
• TGS2: iPerf
• TGS3: MGEN

https://sites.google.com/ncsu.edu/aerpaw-user-manual/6-sample-experiments-repository/6-2-vehicle-control-software

https://sites.google.com/ncsu.edu/aerpaw-user-manual/6-sample-experiments-repository/6-3-traffic-generation-software

Samples of New Features in Phase-3

5G Experiments with OAI

OE2: OAI 5G, Open5GS Core with SDRs

• Created working 3.4 GHz configuration for OTA with improved link reliability
• Scripts, documentation and supporting material are in the AERPAW Github and user manual
• Connection-Reestablishment remains a challenge with SDR Ues
• I/Q collection will be demonstrated as Hands-on Tutorial #2

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5G with OAI RAN, Open5GS Core and COTS Ues – Uses AERPAW Sandbox (to be available in Fall 2025)

• Telit modem integration (OAI 5G BS connected to COTS UE):
• Scripts to configure and run the modem with high data rates and reestablishment
• Integrated into AERPAW E-VM + documentation

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• Google Pixel 5G UE with OAI gNB + Open5GS core network working at high data rates and reestablishment

E2E1: Single-UAV LTE eNB Serving Ground UEs

• Our drones can fulfill the role of cellular base stations
• We demonstrated the capability both in development and testbed modes
• This is now an AERPAW sample experiment (i.e., available to experimenters)
• Hands-on Tutorial #3

Flying Base Station

• 8 Fixed nodes with:
• 2 x USRPs, 5 x antennas
• Computer, switch, etc.
• 3 Large AERPAW Multicopters (LAMs)
• 5 Small AERPAW Multicopters (SAMs)
• 1 Rover
• 5 Large Portable Nodes (LPNs)
• 4 Small Portable Nodes (SPNs)
• RTK base station, ADS-B station
• 6 x LoRa gateways installed
• 5 x Keysight RF Sensors
• 4G/5G Ericsson Network
• WiFi Service Network

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Review of In-Field Research Capabilities in Phase-3

Hardware - Available Today

• Our new rover has large carrying capacity and autonomy
• Quite a bit of reverse engineering to couple the autopilot to the frame
• New brain for autonomous navigation
• Final calibration - should be at the field by the end of Summer, 2025

AERPAW New Rover Almost Ready

• Our … third testbed instance!
• Development mode (SITL)
• Sandbox mode (HITL)
• Testbed mode (real thing)
• 4 x FN + 2 x LPN + 2 x SPN + PROPSIM + RF Network
• Intense software and hardware development
• About to be open for internal testing in a couple of weeks
• Expected to be open for general use in Fall 2025

Sandbox Development

2 x SPNs

2 x X310s

RF Network

1 x LPN

• Currently, Diplexer based band filters are used in AERPAW Fixed nodes.
• Need to physically rewire these filters for more than two RF bands.
• This issue solved by a programmable RF filter bank with a 4:1 RF switch capable up to 6 GHz.

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• STM32F401CC ARM processor used for command & control through GPIO.
• Wireless experiment running in NUC EVM selects the RF band through a python script.

AERPAW Programmable RF Front End

AERPAW’s FCC Innovation Zone*

* AERPAW’s request to expand its FCC Innovation Zone has been under review by FCC

Further Details at:

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-21-92A1.pdf

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https://aerpaw.org/experiments/datasets

Publications with AERPAW: https://aerpaw.org/publications/

AERPAW OTIC in the RTP Area

AERPAW OTIC Equipment & Network

S5040A

VXT

4x4 SDR

eLSU

2 x X100 5G

AERPAW Autonomous Data Mule (AADM) Challenge

Student Award Sponsors

Goal:

• UAV should optimize its trajectory to download data from a number of towers and land back as soon as possible

• Hands on Tutorial #1

https://aerpaw.org/aerpaw-aadm-challenge/

Hands on Tutorial Page

• https://sites.google.com/ncsu.edu/aerpaw-user-manual/acw-2025-tutorial-information

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Contact Email: aerpaw-contact@ncsu.edu

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aerpaw/

Join our User Email Group: send a blank email to group-aerpaw-users+subscribe@ncsu.edu

AERPAW’s FCC Experimental License and Activity at 3.3 GHz

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AERPAW's FCC Call Sign: WK2XQH

• https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/els/reports/CallsignSearch.cfm
• https://apps.fcc.gov/els/GetAtt.html?id=302501&x=.

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• Expiration Date of the Experimental License:

February 1, 2025

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• AERPAW plans to apply for renewing its experimental license at 3.3 GHz in 2025

AERPAW UAV Software Interactions

Vehicle Control Application

AERPAW Vehicle Library

DroneKit

pymavlink

MAVLink Filter

Autopilot Firmware

(ArduPilot)

MAVLink

Filtered

Commands

MAVLink

Status

MAVLink

Commands

MAVLink

Status

Increased Flexibility

Experimenter Code

AERPAW Code

Open Source Code

• AERPAW Autopilot: Cube Orange
• Autopilot Firmware: ArduPilot