Understanding UAV cellular communications: from existing networks to massive MIMO
The purpose of this article is to bestow the reader with a timely study of UAV cellular communications, bridging the gap between the 3GPP standardization status quo and the more forward-looking research. Special emphasis is placed on the downlink command and control (C&C) channel to aerial u...
| Autores: | , , , , |
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| Tipo de documento: | artigo |
| Estado: | Versión aceptada para publicación |
| Data de publicação: | 2018 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Universitat Pompeu Fabra |
| Repositório: | Repositorio Digital de la UPF |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/44042 |
| Acesso em linha: | http://hdl.handle.net/10230/44042 http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2876700 |
| Access Level: | Acceso aberto |
| Palavra-chave: | Unmanned aerial vehicles UAVs Command Control channel Cellular networks Massive MIMO 3GPP |
| Resumo: | The purpose of this article is to bestow the reader with a timely study of UAV cellular communications, bridging the gap between the 3GPP standardization status quo and the more forward-looking research. Special emphasis is placed on the downlink command and control (C&C) channel to aerial users, whose reliability is deemed of paramount technological importance for the commercial success of UAV cellular communications. Through a realistic side-by-side comparison of two network deployments – a present-day cellular infrastructure versus a next-generation massive MIMO system – a plurality of key facts are cast light upon, with the three main ones summarized as follows: (i) UAV cell selection is essentially driven by the secondary lobes of a base station’s radiation pattern, causing UAVs to associate to far-flung cells; (ii) over a 10 MHz bandwidth, and for UAV heights of up to 300 m, massive MIMO networks can support 100 kbps C&C channels in 74% of the cases when the uplink pilots for channel estimation are reused among base station sites, and in 96% of the cases without pilot reuse across the network; (iii) supporting UAV C&C channels can considerably affect the performance of ground users on account of severe pilot contamination, unless suitable power control policies are in place. |
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