Experimental Demonstration of Flying UAV Swarm-Based Reconfigurable Yagi–Uda Antennas

Deploying wireless systems on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarms presents significant challenges, particularly the need for precise synchronization and positional accuracy among multiple UAVs. This article introduces a novel solution that leverages passive elements and a magnetic connection design to address these issues. By using passive elements, the requirement for frequency and phase synchronization among each UAV node is eliminated. The magnetic connection design ensures accurate and stable positioning of the flying UAVs, mitigating positional errors. This approach is used to develop large Yagi-Uda antennas operating at 500 MHz, with antenna elements carried by multiple small UAVs. The system’s reconfigurability allows multiple flying UAVs to dock and form a high-gain Yagi-Uda antenna. Experimental results of a three-UAV-based Yagi-Uda antenna validate the proposed design’s effectiveness in reconfiguring antenna gain, reducing system complexity, and ensuring stable gain during UAV flights. This design provides a practical and efficient solution for various UAV swarm-based wireless communication applications.