LUXEMBOURG — June 24, 2026 — OQ Technology, operating as the world’s first 5G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) operator and a pioneer in Direct-to-Device (D2D) satellite connectivity, has announced the successful completion of Europe’s first drone video transmission over a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network.
The milestone transmission was achieved using standardized 3GPP NTN technology and Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) S-band spectrum.
The live demonstration routed video from a compact drone through OQ Technology’s sovereign European satellite constellation and a secure cloud network based in Europe. A video demonstration of the capability has been made available by the company online.
Ditching Bulky VSAT: How Edge-to-Space Integration Works
Historically, streaming live video from autonomous aerial platforms required bulky, expensive, and power-hungry VSAT or broadband satellite hardware mounted directly to the airframe. OQ Technology’s approach sidesteps these physical and financial constraints by shifting processing to the edge.
The system integrates a compact, standard-based 3GPP NTN IoT modem directly into the lightweight drone architecture. Video data is fully processed and compressed via onboard edge computing before being efficiently transmitted over a narrowband satellite uplink. This design dramatically reduces the size, weight, power consumption, and overall deployment costs associated with aerial satellite relays.
Crucially, the demonstration was executed entirely over OQ’s active LEO network, validating a unified ecosystem where drones, specialized IoT hardware, and off-the-shelf consumer smartphones—including models from Apple, Google, and Samsung—can seamlessly communicate across a single, standardized 3GPP-compliant infrastructure.
Strategic Autonomy and Mission-Critical Applications
The tactical validation highlighted three practical operational use cases for satellite-connected unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs):
- Infrastructure Monitoring: Inspecting industrial assets in highly isolated or unserviced environments.
- Traffic Surveillance: Providing highway and logistical route oversight beyond the reach of terrestrial base stations.
- Autonomous Guidance: Executing long-range drone guidance toward a designated destination using space-based telemetry links.
Beyond commercial applications, the technology provides critical situational awareness for civilian, governmental, and enterprise teams navigating disconnected or disaster-affected zones. Potential crisis applications include disaster response coordination during severe floods and wildfires, maritime and border surveillance, and environmental tracking.
“This achievement demonstrates the growing maturity and strategic importance of standardized 3GPP NTN technology for Europe,” said Omar Qaise, Founder and CEO of OQ Technology. “For the first time, we have demonstrated drone video transmission through a European direct-to-device LEO satellite network using compact hardware and MSS S-band spectrum rather than large satellite terminals. This opens entirely new possibilities for emergency response, infrastructure monitoring, maritime awareness, border surveillance, public safety, and other mission-critical operations where terrestrial networks are unavailable.”
The technical success directly bolsters Europe’s ongoing geopolitical push for secure, resilient, and fully sovereign communications infrastructure under dedicated space initiatives like IRIS² and the European Union’s broader strategic autonomy agenda. By demonstrating that even the smallest connected devices can maintain real-time space links without proprietary hardware overhauls, OQ Technology has established a vital template for the next generation of global non-terrestrial connectivity.
