Sprint turns drones into mini cell towers

Sprint tested its cell tower-on-a-drone technology in Texas last week.

Sprint is taking cell service airborne by mounting lightweight cellular radios to drones.

The wireless carrier said this week that it has successfully adapted its Magic Box signal boosting technology to fit on a drone and provide temporary cell coverage over as many as 10 square miles. The company tested the setup, which uses a lighter version of the mini cell tower and a drone from CyPhy Works, last week in Texas, 30 miles outside of Dallas.

Sprint launched the Magic Box earlier this year. The box, which is the size of a shoe box, normally sits in your house to improve indoor 4G LTE service using Sprint’s 2.5GHz spectrum. Unlike other signal boosters, Magic Box doesn’t require a broadband connection. Instead, it uses a dedicated cellular channel to the nearest Sprint cell tower.