China Telecom TeleAI Achieves First Narrowband Satellite HD Video Link for Light Drones

China Telecom Artificial Intelligence Research Institute recently announced that it has successfully used its intelligent transmission network technology to enable light and small drones to connect directly to narrowband satellites for high-definition video transmission, marking the first systematic breakthrough in this field in China. Through the coordination of onboard satellite terminals and a self-developed generative intelligent transmission system, drones can transmit 1080p high-definition images in real time and stably in extreme environments without ground base stations or fiber network coverage, providing a new communications pathway for emergency rescue, ocean patrol and border surveillance scenarios.

Light and small drones, as core low-altitude sensing platforms, have long faced the dilemma of requiring heavy equipment for fast transmission while heavy equipment sacrifices range and maneuverability. The research team integrated onboard satellite terminals, generative intelligent transmission boxes, high-definition video payloads and flight control systems on the same small platform, achieving a system-level innovation that opens the air-to-satellite link. Its self-developed generative intelligent transmission technology completes video encoding onboard before transmission over the satellite uplink, enabling clear and smooth 1080p video transmission at an extremely narrow bandwidth of less than 100kbps, significantly improving efficiency over traditional solutions.

Li Xuelong, Chief Scientist of China Telecom Group and Dean of China Telecom Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, said the technology pioneers a paradigm shift in information transmission from "bit streams" to "token streams," establishing a unified transmission framework for intelligent flow. While remaining compatible with traditional communications, it has spawned new paradigms such as semantic communications and task-oriented communications, achieving coordinated organization of communications, computing and storage resources and providing underlying support for next-generation communications network construction.

For engineering deployment, the team overcame three core challenges: developing "attitude-vibration coordinated control" technology that aligns and adjusts flight attitude and target attitude in real time, ensuring stability of the payload field of view and satellite link during motion; adopting antenna layout optimization, cavity-level electromagnetic shielding and control link electromagnetic sealing to effectively suppress multi-RF interference, ensuring airframe control and GPS signals remain unaffected; and using a six-rotor platform with layered lightweight design to balance weight reduction and payload integration.

This breakthrough achieved a key deployment of intelligent transmission network technology in the "air" domain, breaking dependence on ground communications infrastructure. China Telecom Artificial Intelligence Research Institute said it will continue to advance innovation in intelligent transmission network technology, deepen the integration of "artificial intelligence plus information communications," and conduct large-scale validation and application across the "air, space, ground and sea" domains, providing core technical support for China's low-altitude economy and next-generation communications network construction.