When infrastructure fails,
communication mustn’t.
AERIS is a research-led aerial communication infrastructure concept designed to support connectivity when conventional networks are disrupted.
Communication depends on infrastructure that can fail.
Earthquakes, floods and other disruptions can interrupt terrestrial base stations, backhaul links and power. When these systems fail together, coordination becomes harder precisely when it matters most.
The research behind DTD asks how an aerial layer, ground access and an independent backhaul interface could work together as one system.
Aerial Emergency Resilient
Infrastructure System
Building a network
above the disruption.
AERIS brings together ground access, tethered aerial nodes, local LoRa mesh networking and a high-altitude backhaul interface. Each layer has a distinct role in the DTD architecture.
Explore the platformThree layers.
One connected system.
DTD separates user access, local aerial networking and wide-area backhaul into coordinated layers.
From first mile
to wider network.
A clear separation of roles helps the architecture address access, energy and backhaul together.
Ground access
People and field devices connect to a local access point at the dock.
Tethered lift
A hybrid tether links ground infrastructure to an aerial node and is designed to carry power and data.
Local mesh
LoRa-capable nodes form a local mesh; the study describes a two-phase ECHO routing approach.
Backhaul
Traffic can interface with a separate higher-altitude or SATCOM backhaul layer where available.
POINT
The first mile is where communication breaks first.
The study proposes a Wi-Fi-based user access layer at the dock. Common field devices connect locally, while the system links that access point to the aerial mesh and its available backhaul path.
The access method is a research design choice; coverage and capacity require validation in the intended environment.
First-mile engineeringResilience is a system property.
The research considers power interruption, aerial node failure, wind and network congestion as design constraints. Alternative paths and backup power are part of the architecture; response under real operating conditions remains to be validated.
Read the research approachPower from the ground.
Communication in the air.
A tethered UAV changes the energy problem: the proposed design carries ground-supplied power up to the aerial node while accounting for cable mass, aerodynamic drag, tension and thrust margin.
The paper’s analysis identifies these as coupled engineering trade-offs. It does not establish field performance.
Explore tether designMore than one path
through the mesh.
The proposed LoRa network uses a self-healing mesh topology. The study describes ECHO as a two-phase routing method: flood discovery identifies reachable nodes and paths, then pruned forwarding selects a route for data.
This is a design described in the research. Operational route recovery has not been field validated.
How the protocol is describedPosition the network around demand.
The study models how population density, line of sight and network capacity can inform dock placement and aerial altitude. Traffic offloading is considered against channel utilization, queue delay and node density.
These are analytical planning and routing inputs in the research, not deployed autonomous optimization.
Explore optimizationFor environments
where links are fragile.
Potential use cases are framed as operational contexts, not deployments or customer commitments.
Earthquake response
Restore a local communication layer when terrestrial links are disrupted.
↗02Search & rescue
Support field coordination across a changing incident area.
↗03Wildfire & flood
Extend communication options in remote or access-constrained terrain.
↗04Emergency command
Connect field access, local mesh and an available backhaul path.
↗TETHER
DRONEDTD / SYSTEM MODEL
Research is the beginning of the work.
The source paper develops the DTD concept through functional decomposition, network design, analytical coverage and energy models, and stress scenarios. It identifies field validation as future work.
The paper is conceptual and analytical. Its model assumptions are not product specifications or commercial performance.
Enter the research portalFrom analytical design
toward validation.
The paper identifies a set of next steps. These are research directions, not completed capabilities.
The next emergency network
won’t always be on the ground.
Communication infrastructure should remain an option when the infrastructure around it does not.