# Drone Swarms Hardware Questions

Source: https://forum.modalai.com/topic/5416/drone-swarms-hardware-questions
Category: General Questions (https://forum.modalai.com/category/2/general-questions)
Posted: 2026-09-15 01:16:31 UTC by v.bansal
Replies: 0 · Views: 9

## v.bansal · 2026-09-15 01:16:31 UTC

Hi ModalAI team and community — I'm building a UAV swarm research testbed and planning to use ModalAI Starling FPV as my primary platform. I need guidance on communication hardware available through ModalAI or your ecosystem.

**What I'm buying:**
- Multiple ModalAI Starling FPV units
- Starlink Max terminals for backhaul

**Two use cases I want to test:**

**Case 1: Decentralized — All drones talk directly to my laptop**
- Each drone sends telemetry (power, position, video) independently to my laptop
- My laptop broadcasts commands to all drones simultaneously
- Drones coordinate behavior based on laptop commands
- Question: What communication modules/radios enable this? (mesh radio, ground modem, etc.)

**Case 2: Centralized — Single leader drone controls the swarm**
- One leader Starling stays linked to my laptop (via Starlink or local radio)
- Leader broadcasts commands to follower drones over local mesh
- Followers relay telemetry back through the leader to my laptop
- Question: Does Starling FPV support this mesh topology natively? What additional hardware?

**My specific questions:**
1. What communication modules/radios does ModalAI offer or recommend for drone-to-drone mesh?
2. Does Starling FPV have native mesh capabilities, or do I need to integrate external radios (XBee, RFD900x, Doodle Labs, etc.)?
3. For Case 1 (all drones → laptop), what's the recommended ground modem or radio module?
4. For Case 2 (leader → followers), can I use Starling's onboard comms, or do I need external mesh hardware?
5. Are there reference designs or example swarms already built on Starling that I can learn from?

Thanks!