Cellular Drone Measurement Tool (CDMT)

The Cellular Drone Measurement Tool (CDMT) is a tool for performance evaluation of wireless communication with drones over cellular networks. It supports Android smartphones and records various LTE/5G NR parameters, evaluates TCP and UDP throughput, and supports position tracking. It can be freely used for academic research.

Some freely accessible LTE measurement tools with various features are available. However, to the best of our knowledge, none of them integrates all the parameters supported by CDMT.

Screenshots

  • Settings
  • Running measurement
  • Results overview

How to get it

The Android app is available for download at the Android Play Store:
Get it on Google Play

CDMT Server

You may perform TCP/UDP downlink and uplink measurements using two Android devices. The device that runs in server mode has to have a public IP address and allow connections via the configured ports (defaults are TCP 8081 and TCP/UDP 8085).

In many cases mobile operators use carrier grade NAT and similar IP configurations which limit the connectivity and hence make measurements between two smartphones impossible. Furthermore, the uplink limits the achievable data rate. Hence it is suggested to install a Java version of the server component and run it on a server that is under your control and freely accessible via the Internet. You can download the Java server component here.

In order go get a better understanding of who is using the CDMT app, we would very appreciate filling out the form below to let us know (e.g. your affiliation and the project/purpose)

How to cite

We kindly ask you to refer the following paper in case you use the tool for evaluation:

Christian Raffelsberger, Raheeb Muzaffar, and Christian Bettstetter, “A Performance Evaluation Tool for Drone Communications in 4G Cellular Networks,” In Proc. 16th International Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems (ISWCS), 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ISWCS.2019.8877360

A pre-print is available here: https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.00115

Publications

This list includes some selected publications that performed evaluations using CDMT :

  • I. Donevski, C. Raffelsberger, M. Sende, A. Fakhreddine, JJ. Nielsen, “An Experimental Analysis on Drone-Mounted Access Points for Improved Latency-Reliability”, In Proc. ACM Workshop on Micro Aerial Vehicle Networks, Systems, and Applications (DroNet), 2021. Best Paper Award
  • R. Muzaffar, C. Raffelsberger, A. Fakhreddine, JL. Luque, D. Emini, C. Bettstetter, “First Experiments with a 5G-Connected Drone,” In Proc. ACM Workshop on Micro Aerial Vehicle Networks, Systems, and Applications (DroNet), 2020.
  • A. Fakhreddine, C. Bettstetter, S. Hayat, R. Muzaffar, and D. Emini, “Handover Challenges for Cellular-Connected Drones,” In Proc. ACM Workshop on Micro Aerial Vehicle Networks, Systems, and Applications (DroNet), 2019.
  • S. Hayat, C. Bettstetter, A. Fakhredddine, R. Muzaffar, and D. Emini, “An Experimental Evaluation of LTE-A Throughput for Drones,” In Proc. ACM Workshop on Micro Aerial Vehicle Networks, Systems, and Applications (DroNet), 2019.

Privacy Policy

The CDMT app logs location data while performing measurements. The location data is stored in the measurement log files that are kept locally on your device. CDMT does not share any of this information with anyone else. For further information on how to contact us regarding our privacy policy please visit: https://www.lakeside-labs.com/privacy-policy/