Reliable connectivity is critical for Public Protection and Disaster Relief operations, especially in rural or compromised environments where terrestrial infrastructure is unavailable. In such scenarios, NTNs, and specifically UAVs, are promising candidates to provide on-demand and rapid connectivity on the ground, serving as aerial base stations. In this paper, we implement a setup in which a rotary-wing UAV, equipped with a Starlink Mini terminal, provides Internet connectivity to an emergency ground user in the absence of cellular coverage via LEO satellites. The UAV functions as a Wi-Fi access point, while backhauling the ground traffic through the Starlink constellation. We evaluate the system via both network simulations in ns-3 and real-world flight experiments in a rural environment, in terms of throughput, latency, coverage, and energy consumption under static and dynamic flight conditions. Our results demonstrate that the system can maintain a stable uplink throughput of approximately 30 Mbps up to approximately 200 meters, and with minimal impact on the UAV battery lifetime. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of deploying commercial LEO satellite terminals on UAVs as a practical solution for emergency connectivity.

翻译：可靠的连接对于公共保护和救灾行动至关重要，尤其是在地面基础设施不可用的农村或受损环境中。在此类场景下，非地面网络，特别是无人机，作为空中基站，是提供地面按需快速连接的有力候选方案。本文实现了一种设置：在蜂窝网络覆盖缺失的情况下，一架搭载Starlink Mini终端的旋翼无人机通过低轨卫星为地面应急用户提供互联网连接。该无人机作为Wi-Fi接入点运行，同时通过星链星座回传地面流量。我们通过网络仿真（ns-3）和农村环境下的实际飞行实验，评估了系统在静态和动态飞行条件下的吞吐量、时延、覆盖范围和能耗。结果表明，该系统在高达约200米的距离内能维持约30 Mbps的稳定上行链路吞吐量，且对无人机电池寿命影响极小。这些发现证明了在无人机上部署商用低轨卫星终端作为应急连接实用解决方案的可行性。