Optical wireless communication (OWC) technologies are gaining significant research interest due to their ability to cater to the demand for high bandwidth and provide simple, low-cost, secure, and flexible solutions for next-generation wireless commun...
Optical wireless communication (OWC) technologies are gaining significant research interest due to their ability to cater to the demand for high bandwidth and provide simple, low-cost, secure, and flexible solutions for next-generation wireless communications. Recently, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs), commonly known as drones, has been the subject of concerted research, and have attracted significant interest in rapid deployment for both military and civil applications. In this paper, we analyze experimentally, the ground-to-UAV optical communication link. An experiment test-bed using a varying pulse width laser and photodiode is constructed to characterize the propagation channel. In particular, we investigate the path loss, bit error rate, and semi-angle at half-power. The results provide insight into the ground-to-UAV propagation channel characteristics.