{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]],"date-time":"2026-04-16T21:07:03Z","timestamp":1776373623188,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,20]],"date-time":"2025-06-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1750377600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"MICIU\/AEI\/10.13039\/501100011033","award":["PID2022-137329OB-C41"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PID2022-137329OB-C41"]}]},{"name":"MICIU\/AEI\/10.13039\/501100011033","award":["PIIF-24-06"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PIIF-24-06"]}]},{"name":"Escuela Polit\u00e9cnica Nacional","award":["PID2022-137329OB-C41"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PID2022-137329OB-C41"]}]},{"name":"Escuela Polit\u00e9cnica Nacional","award":["PIIF-24-06"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PIIF-24-06"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Future Internet"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Ensuring reliable communication in remote or disaster-affected areas is a technical challenge due to unplanned deployment and mobilization, meaning placement difficulties and high operation costs of conventional telecommunications infrastructures. To address this problem, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have emerged as an excellent alternative to provide quick connectivity in remote or disaster-affected regions at a reasonable cost. However, the limited battery autonomy of UAVs restricts their flight service time. This paper proposes a communication system based on a tethered UAV (T-UAV) capable of continuous operation through a wired power network connected to a ground station. The communications system is based on low-cost devices, such as Raspberry Pi platforms, and offers wireless IP telephony services, providing high-quality and reliable communication. Experimental tests assessed power consumption, UAV stability, and data transmission performance. Our results prove that the T-UAV, based on a quadcopter drone, operates stably at 16 V and 20 A, ensuring consistent VoIP communications at a height of 10 m with low latency. These experimental findings underscore the potential of T-UAVs as cost-effective alternatives for extending or providing communication networks in remote regions, emergency scenarios, or underserved areas.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/fi17070273","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,20]],"date-time":"2025-06-20T09:04:49Z","timestamp":1750410289000},"page":"273","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["An Experimental Tethered UAV-Based Communication System with Continuous Power Supply"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-0494-2561","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Veronica","family":"Rodriguez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Networks, Escuela Polit\u00e9cnica Nacional, Quito 170525, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8655-325X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christian","family":"Tipantu\u00f1a","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Networks, Escuela Polit\u00e9cnica Nacional, Quito 170525, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0854-1250","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Diego","family":"Reinoso","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Networks, Escuela Polit\u00e9cnica Nacional, Quito 170525, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0369-9964","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jorge","family":"Carvajal-Rodriguez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Networks, Escuela Polit\u00e9cnica Nacional, Quito 170525, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3540-9768","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carlos","family":"Egas Acosta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Networks, Escuela Polit\u00e9cnica Nacional, Quito 170525, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6902-7151","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pablo","family":"Proa\u00f1o","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Industrial Automation and Control, Escuela Polit\u00e9cnica Nacional, Quito 170525, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7888-3603","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xavier","family":"Hesselbach","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Network Engineering, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya (UPC), 08034 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105100","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2019.2932119","article-title":"Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Agriculture: A Review of Perspective of Platform, Control, and Applications","volume":"7","author":"Kim","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17608","DOI":"10.1109\/JSEN.2021.3049471","article-title":"Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Smart Agriculture: Applications, Requirements, and Challenges","volume":"21","author":"Hakak","year":"2021","journal-title":"IEEE Sens. 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