5G-Enabled Drone System

Quantitative Feasibility and Investment Strategy

Abstract

This study provides an evidence-based decision framework and a quantitative feasibility assessment of a 5G-based drone system in precision agriculture. Uplink transmission times under 4G and several 5G scenarios were simulated using a data-driven model based on actual drone image transmissions (0.574 GB per mission). The simulation showed a more than 90% increase in performance using 5G, which successfully addresses the 4G transmission constraint by reducing the average transmission delay (τ1) from 1,205 seconds (20.1 minutes) under 4G to between 61 and 96 seconds (1-1.6 minutes) under 5G. However, a rural edge coverage stress test (100 simulations) showed a high standard deviation in τ1 (approximately 43 seconds), which resulted in a long tail in the latency distribution, quantifying the unreliability of the network as a primary business risk. A technical artefact, the MNDVI Heatmap algorithm, validated the system’s ability to extract valuable information from low-cost RGB sensors. To address the high capital costs, a conditional adoption approach using a Hybrid Network Architecture (5G as a service for bandwidth, a mesh network for C2 reliability) and a Drone as a Service (DaaS) business model is proposed.