Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and IoT as Enabling Technologies for 5G: Frameworks, Applications and Challenges (original) (raw)
Related papers
IEEE Access, 2023
The rapid advancement of fifth-generation (5G)-and-beyond networks coupled with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has opened up exciting possibilities for diverse applications and cutting-edge technologies, revolutionizing the way connections, communications, and innovations unfold in the digital age. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the deployment scenarios, applications, emerging technologies, regulatory aspects, research trends, and challenges associated with the use of UAVs in 5G-and-beyond networks. It begins with a succinct background and motivation, followed by a systematic UAV classification and a review of relevant works. The survey covers UAV deployment scenarios, including single and multiple UAV configurations. The categorization of UAV applications in 5G is presented, along with investigations into emerging technologies for enhancing UAV communications. Regulatory considerations encompassing flight guidelines, spectrum allocation, privacy, and safety are discussed. Moreover, light is shed on the latest research trends and open challenges in the field, with promising directions for future investigations identified, concluding with a summary of key findings and contributions. This survey serves as a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in the UAV and communication domains. Additionally, it offers a comprehensive foundation for informed decision-making, fostering collaboration, and driving advancements in UAV and communication technologies to address the evolving needs of our interconnected world. INDEX TERMS Drone, 5G, unmanned aerial vehicles, wireless systems.
Supporting UAV Services in 5G Networks: New High-Level Architecture integrating 5G with U-space
2020
To provide efficient, safe, and secure access to the airspace, the European Union has launched a set of new services called U-space, allowing supporting Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) management and conflict preventing of flights in the airspace. These services are based on communication technology, where it is foreseen that it will be the key enabler to unlock the underlying potentials of UAVs’ operations. In this regard, the upcoming generation of mobile networks “5G” is envisioned to be the communication standard to support diverse UAV operations and applications. In this paper, we propose a novel architecture that integrates 5G systems with U-space. The main aim of this architecture consists in providing a reference design that demonstrates how 5G can support U-space services and shows the interactions between different stakeholders. Furthermore, we introduce the 5G!Drones project that relies on the proposed architecture to trial UAV use-cases scenarios on top of 5G infrastruct...
UAV Based 5G Network: A Practical Survey Study
arXiv (Cornell University), 2022
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are anticipated to significantly contribute to the development of new wireless networks that could handle high-speed transmissions and enable wireless broadcasts. When compared to communications that rely on permanent infrastructure, UAVs offer a number of advantages, including flexible deployment, dependable line-of-sight (LoS) connection links, and more design degrees of freedom because of controlled mobility. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) combined with 5G networks and Internet of Things (IoT) components have the potential to completely transform a variety of industries. UAVs may transfer massive volumes of data in real-time by utilizing the lowlatency and high-speed abilities of 5G networks, opening up a variety of applications like remote sensing, precision farming, and disaster response. The collection of processing of data from multiple sensors is made possible by the incorporation of IoT devices in UAVs, enabling more precise and effective decision-making. In conclusion, by enabling new degrees of automation and connectivity, the integration of UAVs and 5G technology with IoT devices have the ability to fundamentally alter how we work and live. This study of UAV communication with regard to 5G/B5G WLANs is presented in this research. The three UAV-assisted MEC network scenarios also include the specifics for the allocation of resources and optimization. We also concentrate on the case where a UAV does task computation in addition to serving as a MEC server to examine wind farm turbines. This paper covers the key implementation difficulties of UAV-assisted MEC, such as optimum UAV deployment, wind models, and coupled trajectory-computation performance optimization, in order to promote widespread implementations of UAV-assisted MEC in practice. The primary problem for 5G and beyond 5G (B5G) is delivering broadband access to various device kinds. Prior to discussing associated research issues faced by the developing integrated network design, we first provide a brief overview of the background information as well as the networks that integrate space, aviation, and land.
IMPLEMENTATION OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES AS FLYING BASE STATIONS TO ASSIST 5G NETWORKS
Current wireless communication networks are not able to accommodate the increase in broadband data and are currently encountering fundamental challenges like higher data rate and Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, energy efficiency and excellent end-to-end performance and user coverage in overcrowded areas and hotspots whilst maintaining extremely low latency and high bandwidth. The deployment of 5G networks aims to address such challenges by introducing multiple advancements to the network and implementing new technologies to evolve new radio networks. This will primarily be done by introducing the 5G New Radio, which is the radio technology that is being developed to support the 5G technologies that will solve the problems mentioned previously. With the New Radio implementation, the next generation networks will accommodate the growing data rates. The networks are expected to attain a mobile data volume per unit area that is 1,000 times higher than current networks. Over 10-100 times the number of current connected devices is expected to be accommodated by 5G networks. Coverage is primarily the crucial problem with 5G networks, requiring the densification of urban areas with heterogeneous networks and the deployment of more closely packed terrestrial MBSs. However, this is not cost-effective and can be more complex as terrestrial network replanning will be required. The issue can be overcome by integrating UAVs into the network infrastructure as FBSs.
Controlling Drones from 5G Networks
Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM 2018 Conference on Posters and Demos, 2018
Envisioned 5G applications are key drivers of the evolution of network and cloud architectures. These novel services pose several challenges on the underlying infrastructure in terms of latency, reliability or capacity, just to mention a few. Controlling or coordinating both indoor and outdoor drones from future networks is a potential application with significant importance. Today's technologies addressing network softwarization, such as Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV), enable a novel way to create and provision such services. In this demonstration, we showcase an Industry 4.0 use-case including a local factory equipped with drones and local cloud and network facilities connecting to remote cloud resources. The envisioned service is realized by a Service Function Chain (SFC) consisting of network functions and logical connections between them with special requirements. In addition, the envisioned service is integrated with our multi-domain resource orchestration system and as a result, it can be controlled, deployed and monitored from that framework. The use-case and the demo well illustrate several aspects and challenges which should be addressed by future 5G systems.
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Eastern-European Journal of Enterprise Technologies
UAVs or drones as an alternative solution to providing high-quality Internet service in difficult terrain are environmentally friendly and do not consume electricity during the day as is the case with communication towers. But the developers of the network face difficulties in the drone communication system associated with the need to take into consideration unpredictable weather conditions and terrain, as well as the short life of the drone's batteries. Therefore, the object of this study is the process of managing UAV traffic through the use of gNB-IoT in 5G. The possibility of using a mobile UAV repeater during traffic management using radio resources (RR), radio access network (RAN), the infrastructure with broadcasting tools and dynamic connection using MU-MIMO modulation is shown. The use of these tools makes it possible to connect the drone to the wired base network from the provider and then restore the radio frequency signal and broadcast to another coverage area where ...
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Vehicular Communications, 2020
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Multi-Tier Drone Architecture for 5G/B5G Cellular Networks: Challenges, Trends, and Prospects
IEEE Communications Magazine, 2018
Drones (or unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs]) are expected to be an important component of fifth generation (5G)/beyond 5G (B5G) cellular architectures that can potentially facilitate wireless broadcast or point-to-multipoint transmissions. The distinct features of various drones such as the maximum operational altitude, communication, coverage, computation, and endurance impel the use of a multi-tier architecture for future drone-cell networks. In this context, this article focuses on investigating the feasibility of multi-tier drone network architecture over traditional single-tier drone networks and identifying the scenarios in which drone networks can potentially complement the traditional RF-based terrestrial networks. We first identify the challenges associated with multi-tier drone networks as well as drone-assisted cellular networks. We then review the existing state-of-the-art innovations in drone networks and drone-assisted cellular networks. We then investigate the performance of a multitier drone network in terms of spectral efficiency of downlink transmission while illustrating the optimal intensity and altitude of drones in different tiers numerically. Our results demonstrate the specific network load conditions (i.e., ratio of user intensity and base station intensity) where deployment of drones can be beneficial (in terms of spectral efficiency of downlink transmission) for conventional terrestrial cellular networks.
Drone-Aided Communication as a Key Enabler for 5G and Resilient Public Safety Networks
IEEE Communications Magazine
Wireless networks comprising unmanned aerial vehicles can offer limited connectivity in a cost-effective manner to disaster-struck regions where terrestrial infrastructure might have been damaged. While these drones offer advantages such as rapid deployment to far-flung areas, their operations may be rendered ineffective by the absence of an adequate energy management strategy. This article considers the multi-faceted applications of these platforms and the challenges thereof, in the networks of the future. In addition to providing an overview of the work done by researchers in determining the features of the air-toground channel, the article explores the use of drones in fields as diverse as military surveillance and network-rehabilitation for disaster-struck areas. It also goes on to present a case-study which envisages a scenario in which drones operate alongside conventional wireless infrastructure, thereby allowing a greater number of users to establish a line-of-sight link for communication. This study investigates a power allocation strategy for the microwave base station and the small base stations operating at 28 GHz frequency band. The self-adaptive power control strategy for drones is dependent on the maximum allowable interference threshold and minimum data rate requirements. This study highlights the importance of incorporating the drones in the multi-tier heterogeneous network to extend the network coverage and capacity.
UAV IoT Framework Views and Challenges: Towards Protecting Drones as “Things”
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have enormous potential in enabling new applications in various areas, ranging from military, security, medicine, and surveillance to traffic-monitoring applications. Lately, there has been heavy investment in the development of UAVs and multi-UAVs systems that can collaborate and complete missions more efficiently and economically. Emerging technologies such as 4G/5G networks have significant potential on UAVs equipped with cameras, sensors, and GPS receivers in delivering Internet of Things (IoT) services from great heights, creating an airborne domain of the IoT. However, there are many issues to be resolved before the effective use of UAVs can be made, including security, privacy, and management. As such, in this paper we review new UAV application areas enabled by the IoT and 5G technologies, analyze the sensor requirements, and overview solutions for fleet management over aerial-networking, privacy, and security challenges. Finally, we propose a framework that supports and enables these technologies on UAVs. The introduced framework provisions a holistic IoT architecture that enables the protection of UAVs as “flying” things in a collaborative networked environment.