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I got a small drone that is controllable over wifi - the drone acts as accesspoint, an app on the phone connects to it over the phone's wifi.

And expectably, the drone's AP is short range, the phone's built-in wifi antenna is crap, and as result the drone's range is crap.

I could either get a smartphone with exquisite wifi range, or some kind of extender. Or maybe some ultra-light-weight antenna to attach to the drone (currently the "antenna" is some 4cm of soft wire sticking out the back.)

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  • You might be able to get a separate USB wifi dongle with USB adapter for your phone. I have a phone to USB adapter for an endoscope, and since it is USB it should be able to handle other devices.
    – cybernard
    Commented May 2, 2017 at 3:09
  • A longer antenna won't necessarily improve your reception. Wi-Fi operates at much higher frequencies than e.g. an old analog TV with 'rabbit ears'. An antenna longer than a few cm would cause more interference than reduce it.
    – Raj Huff
    Commented May 2, 2017 at 9:23

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If possible, try to not hold the smartphone between your hands. That also blocks some of the signal. Otherwise you could try to mount external antennas to your drone if you could reach the antenna connectors on the PCB. Do know that adding antennas to the drone might result in less stability.

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