Understanding autonomous drone maneuverability for Internet of Things applications

Increasing sensing and communication capabilities combined with falling prices have made drones very attractive for Internet of Things applications. A key requirement of these applications is that the drones should be autonomously maneuvered by computer programs. It is therefore important to understand the practical limitations of autonomous drone maneuverability to ensure that target application performance is met. In this paper, we first analyze drone maneuverability using theory to shed light on the tradeoff between the flying speed and the turning agility of the drone. To investigate the practical maneuverability performance, we then emulate as well as fly a commercial drone under the control of an Android program. We reveal some practical maneuverability factors that must be considered for the applications that require frequent changes of direction for the drone.