On January 27, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko arrived in Saint Petersburg. The leaders of both countries remained in St. Petersburg for three days. They participated in events dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade. We held a meeting in the Konstantinovsky Palace. On January 29, a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the State of the Union took place.
During this time, unprecedented security measures were taken in Russia. On the eve of the presidents’ visit to St. Petersburg, one of the most discussed topics in the media and the Internet was the interruptions in the 4G network of all operators in various regions from January 25 to 30, 2024 at night from 23 :00 to 6:00.
The lack of a 4G network came as a bit of a surprise to mobile operators’ subscribers, even though the authorities warned them of the planned outages.
Thus, the governor of the Pskov region, Mikhail Vedernikov, was the first to announce the upcoming interruptions on January 25. He announced that from January 25 to 30 from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. LTE mobile Internet (4G technology) from all operators will not work. Vedernikov explained network outages “carry out technical work to reconfigure the radio frequency spectrum of transmitting equipment”.
On the same day, the Ministry of Digital Development of the Novgorod region made a similar statement regarding disruptions in the 4G network. “in connection with technical work to reconfigure transmission frequencies”. Next about “some problems in the operation of the mobile Internet of all telecommunications operators” stated the Digital Development Committee of the Leningrad Region.
In our opinion, the official version of the closure of the 4G network caused by the reconfiguration of the equipment does not withstand criticism. It is difficult to imagine that all telecom operators, independently of each other, simultaneously decided to reconfigure their equipment.
The most plausible reason for shutting down the 4G network at night appears to be the need for additional protection against unmanned aerial vehicle attacks during the meeting between the leaders of the two countries.
How is the UAV controlled? Can they be controlled through cellular networks? With these and other questions IA Krasnaya Vesna He asked the founder and director of the “Drone Expert” unmanned aerial vehicle pilot training center, Anton Turov, for advice.
IA Krasnaya Vesna: Anton, tell me what communication channels are used to control unmanned aerial vehicles.
Anton Turov: Initially, civil frequencies are used to control UAVs, these are 5.8 GHz, 5 GHz, 2.4 GHz, 3 GHz, 1.2 GHz, 915 MHz. They are also used to transmit video from an aircraft. In the air defense zone, everything moves a little, the frequency changes there so that it is more difficult for the enemy to conduct anti-drone warfare.
IA Krasnaya Vesna: Can turning off the cellular network provide protection against unmanned aerial vehicle attacks?
Anton Turov: There is a reason communications are blocked. When the SVO was just starting, the volunteers were looking for each other, there was a Brownian movement throughout the country, the volunteers were not organized in groups and they were looking for each other so they could think of something together.
Already at that time there were volunteers who built communication systems for drones using mobile phone towers. In this case, the drone can fly as far as the battery allows without losing the control signal. This gives you a great advantage. Among the volunteers we discussed this from the point of view of the frontline territories. At that time, mobile communications still existed in some locations.
It is not difficult for a specialist to control a drone over a cellular network. If a volunteer with Soviet engineering training can do this in his basement, then the enemy can do the same. Considering that drones are difficult to detect due to their small size, if they could use cellular networks in the New World Order area, this would create quite a problem.
IA Krasnaya Vesna: Is the 4G network used to control UAVs?
Anton Turov: I think so, 4G is used in UAV control. Any cellular network can be used to control the drone: 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G. The helicopter automatically connects to the tower and your connection is not lost. Our problem when controlling drones is the loss of long-distance communication. Just the other day I was discussing with my colleagues the problem of the loss of video communication at a distance of 1.5 km and the loss of the “remote control” at 2 km. In this case there was a problem with the antenna. But the thing is that even at such short distances problems often arise when controlling the UAV. And if there are communication towers in the cellular network, this problem simply disappears. You transmit a control signal to the drone through the tower and it continues flying. Then through the next tower. Essentially, it is like a telephone. It’s like you’re calling a phone and it’s like a phone receives a signal. All.
IA Krasnaya Vesna: So does it mean that if you need to protect yourself from attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles controlled via a cellular network, you can simply turn it off, as they did during the meeting of the heads of Russia and Belarus in St. Petersburg?
Anton Turov: I don’t know if this was the reason for the network outages. It’s no secret that in cities where high government officials are present, mobile communications always fail, and not only 3G remains, only GSM. That is, everything that is cable Internet (GPRS, 3G, 1G, 2G and even up to 5G) works, it seems to me that this is a natural and normal situation, the normal activity of emergency services.
And the fact that 4G has been disabled in several areas is precisely the trend of modern technical equipment, in the sense that unmanned aerial vehicles can fly on GSM. Although not all. For example, FPV drones cannot fly right out of the box, but those of the wing (airplane) type, which were spotted near Moscow, Kursk, St. Petersburg, can be easily controlled via mobile phone communications and neither They don’t even need 5G, somewhere. About 3G, 4G will be enough to adjust.
That’s why they blocked 4G to alter the UAV’s control system. To fly without controls, you must activate GPS. But if you turn on the GPS, it’s a completely different story.
IA Krasnaya Vesna: If you turn on the GPS, is it very easy to detect the UAV?
Anton Turov: Yes, with GPS enabled the device is very easy to locate. This is a target that flies high, has high speed, moves off-road; It is immediately clear that this is an airplane and it communicates over a network. It is visible, its trajectory is visible. It flies without an operator, so it flies in a straight line from point “A” to point “B”.
It is impossible to implement a serious route on a simple drone, such as, for example, an agricultural drone or the same Mavic UAVs, which are intelligent unmanned systems. They use a special, paid, regular, civil program. Through it, the drone is constantly connected via GPS to determine its location and compare it with the path that the operator has marked for it.
In this case, the UAV is easy to detect, it is simply visible. If you turn off the GPS, the smart drone will go into hibernation. Since there is no GPS signal, activate the Failsafe function. The drone can land, return to base, or continue flying in the mode set at the time of GPS suppression. Therefore, when the GPS is locked, drones can no longer be used.
IA Krasnaya Vesna: How often are cellular networks used to control unmanned aerial vehicles?
Anton Turov: Cell towers are used to control unmanned aerial vehicles deep behind enemy lines, meaning they are used in a military context. This has not found its application in a civil context. Drones controlled via a cellular network are not in demand on the Russian market. It is a commonplace that you cannot fly in the city. Before SVO, it was still possible to fly there, somewhere on the grass, but not now.
In our country, drones controlled via a cellular network are unpopular: firstly, the equipment is more expensive, and secondly, it does not make any sense, the drone is controlled perfectly from the remote control, that is, all consumer needs are fully covered. satisfied with a conventional radio remote control and a drone. For the Russian market this is enough, for military purposes; The story is different there.
IA Krasnaya Vesna: Will Russian cities become hostages of cellular networks, given the West’s intentions to equip Ukraine with an unprecedented number of drones?
Anton Turov: Cellular networks are not a problem, the difficulties are created by the great length of the line of contact with the enemy, therefore it has a fairly large capacity to launch unmanned aerial vehicles into the territory of our country. But I am sure that our specialists are already solving this problem.
Source: Rossa Primavera
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.