Throughput Maximization for UAV-Aided Backscatter Communication Networks

This paper investigates unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-aided backscatter communication (BackCom) networks, where the UAV is leveraged to help the backscatter device (BD) forward signals to the receiver. Based on the presence or absence of a direct link between BD and receiver, two protocols, namely transmit-backscatter (TB) protocol and transmit-backscatter-relay (TBR) protocol, are proposed to utilize the UAV to assist the BD. In particular, we formulate the system throughput maximization problems for the two protocols by jointly optimizing the time allocation, reflection coefficient and UAV trajectory. Different static/dynamic circuit power consumption models for the two protocols are analyzed. The resulting optimization problems are shown to be non-convex, which are challenging to solve. We first consider the dynamic circuit power consumption model, and decompose the original problems into three sub-problems, namely time allocation optimization with fixed UAV trajectory and reflection coefficient, reflection coefficient optimization with fixed UAV trajectory and time allocation, and UAV trajectory optimization with fixed reflection coefficient and time allocation. Then, an efficient iterative algorithm is proposed for both protocols by leveraging the block coordinate descent method and successive convex approximation (SCA) techniques. In addition, for the static circuit power consumption model, we obtain the optimal time allocation with a given reflection coefficient and UAV trajectory and the optimal reflection coefficient with low computational complexity by using the Lagrangian dual method. Simulation results show that the proposed protocols are able to achieve significant throughput gains over the compared benchmarks

5G embraces satellites for 6G ubiquitous IoT : basic models for integrated satellite terrestrial networks

Terrestrial communication networks mainly focus on users in urban areas but have poor coverage performance in harsh environments, such as mountains, deserts, and oceans. Satellites can be exploited to extend the coverage of terrestrial fifth-generation (5G) networks. However, satellites are restricted by their high latency and relatively low data rate. Consequently, the integration of terrestrial and satellite components has been widely studied, to take advantage of both sides and enable the seamless broadband coverage. Due to the significant differences between satellite communications (SatComs) and terrestrial communications (TerComs) in terms of channel fading, transmission delay, mobility, and coverage performance, the establishment of an efficient hybrid satellite-terrestrial network (HSTN) still faces many challenges. In general, it is difficult to decompose a HSTN into a sum of separate satellite and terrestrial links due to the complicated coupling relationships therein. To uncover the complete picture of HSTNs, we regard the HSTN as a combination of basic cooperative models that contain the main traits of satellite-terrestrial integration but are much simpler and thus more tractable than the large-scale heterogeneous HSTNs. In particular, we present three basic cooperative models, i.e., model X, model L, and model V, and provide a survey of the state-of-the-art technologies for each of them. We discuss future research directions towards establishing a cell-free, hierarchical, decoupled HSTN. We also outline open issues to envision an agile, smart, and secure HSTN for the sixth-generation (6G) ubiquitous Internet of Things (IoT)