As drone technology advances, more drones are flying across our skies. Modern drones are a lot more sophisticated which means increasingly sophisticated tracking methods are required in order to keep track of them. One question a lot of people have about drones is what would happen if a drone loses touch with the GPS tracking system. Without GPS, all drones and even commercial aircraft wouldn’t be able to function or fly properly.

To address this issue, a scientist named Christopher Lum, with the help of his team has developed a system that is designed as a backup to navigate if GPS satellite links were to stop working. They set up a large ground antenna system which can pick up any GPS signals from the transponder on a drone, and triangulate the signals to determine the drone’s exact position. Instead of using the GPS information for location, the system will listen to the message coming from the ground antenna to determine its location.

The antenna system was tested at the Columbia Gorge Regional Airport on June 12 whereby a test drone made its way along a 1.25-mile path successfully without using GPS, with only a single deviation that was caused by a strong gust of wind. The team is going to be working with T-Mobile technicians to tweak the navigation system so that it works with cellphone towers.

According to Lum, they plan to leverage T-Mobile’s ability to pinpoint exactly where a phone is anywhere within their antenna’s system. Instead of getting stuck after a GPS disconnection, the drones will use the cell networks to locate and track themselves. Eventually, Lum aims to incorporate the system into a drone network for transporting medical supplies in rural areas.