1,879 research outputs found
A Comprehensive Overview on 5G-and-Beyond Networks with UAVs: From Communications to Sensing and Intelligence
Due to the advancements in cellular technologies and the dense deployment of
cellular infrastructure, integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into the
fifth-generation (5G) and beyond cellular networks is a promising solution to
achieve safe UAV operation as well as enabling diversified applications with
mission-specific payload data delivery. In particular, 5G networks need to
support three typical usage scenarios, namely, enhanced mobile broadband
(eMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), and massive
machine-type communications (mMTC). On the one hand, UAVs can be leveraged as
cost-effective aerial platforms to provide ground users with enhanced
communication services by exploiting their high cruising altitude and
controllable maneuverability in three-dimensional (3D) space. On the other
hand, providing such communication services simultaneously for both UAV and
ground users poses new challenges due to the need for ubiquitous 3D signal
coverage as well as the strong air-ground network interference. Besides the
requirement of high-performance wireless communications, the ability to support
effective and efficient sensing as well as network intelligence is also
essential for 5G-and-beyond 3D heterogeneous wireless networks with coexisting
aerial and ground users. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive overview of
the latest research efforts on integrating UAVs into cellular networks, with an
emphasis on how to exploit advanced techniques (e.g., intelligent reflecting
surface, short packet transmission, energy harvesting, joint communication and
radar sensing, and edge intelligence) to meet the diversified service
requirements of next-generation wireless systems. Moreover, we highlight
important directions for further investigation in future work.Comment: Accepted by IEEE JSA
A Survey on Energy Optimization Techniques in UAV-Based Cellular Networks: From Conventional to Machine Learning Approaches
Wireless communication networks have been witnessing an unprecedented demand
due to the increasing number of connected devices and emerging bandwidth-hungry
applications. Albeit many competent technologies for capacity enhancement
purposes, such as millimeter wave communications and network densification,
there is still room and need for further capacity enhancement in wireless
communication networks, especially for the cases of unusual people gatherings,
such as sport competitions, musical concerts, etc. Unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs) have been identified as one of the promising options to enhance the
capacity due to their easy implementation, pop up fashion operation, and
cost-effective nature. The main idea is to deploy base stations on UAVs and
operate them as flying base stations, thereby bringing additional capacity to
where it is needed. However, because the UAVs mostly have limited energy
storage, their energy consumption must be optimized to increase flight time. In
this survey, we investigate different energy optimization techniques with a
top-level classification in terms of the optimization algorithm employed;
conventional and machine learning (ML). Such classification helps understand
the state of the art and the current trend in terms of methodology. In this
regard, various optimization techniques are identified from the related
literature, and they are presented under the above mentioned classes of
employed optimization methods. In addition, for the purpose of completeness, we
include a brief tutorial on the optimization methods and power supply and
charging mechanisms of UAVs. Moreover, novel concepts, such as reflective
intelligent surfaces and landing spot optimization, are also covered to capture
the latest trend in the literature.Comment: 41 pages, 5 Figures, 6 Tables. Submitted to Open Journal of
Communications Society (OJ-COMS
A Survey on UAV-Aided Maritime Communications: Deployment Considerations, Applications, and Future Challenges
Maritime activities represent a major domain of economic growth with several
emerging maritime Internet of Things use cases, such as smart ports, autonomous
navigation, and ocean monitoring systems. The major enabler for this exciting
ecosystem is the provision of broadband, low-delay, and reliable wireless
coverage to the ever-increasing number of vessels, buoys, platforms, sensors,
and actuators. Towards this end, the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs) in maritime communications introduces an aerial dimension to wireless
connectivity going above and beyond current deployments, which are mainly
relying on shore-based base stations with limited coverage and satellite links
with high latency. Considering the potential of UAV-aided wireless
communications, this survey presents the state-of-the-art in UAV-aided maritime
communications, which, in general, are based on both conventional optimization
and machine-learning-aided approaches. More specifically, relevant UAV-based
network architectures are discussed together with the role of their building
blocks. Then, physical-layer, resource management, and cloud/edge computing and
caching UAV-aided solutions in maritime environments are discussed and grouped
based on their performance targets. Moreover, as UAVs are characterized by
flexible deployment with high re-positioning capabilities, studies on UAV
trajectory optimization for maritime applications are thoroughly discussed. In
addition, aiming at shedding light on the current status of real-world
deployments, experimental studies on UAV-aided maritime communications are
presented and implementation details are given. Finally, several important open
issues in the area of UAV-aided maritime communications are given, related to
the integration of sixth generation (6G) advancements
Optimization and Communication in UAV Networks
UAVs are becoming a reality and attract increasing attention. They can be remotely controlled or completely autonomous and be used alone or as a fleet and in a large set of applications. They are constrained by hardware since they cannot be too heavy and rely on batteries. Their use still raises a large set of exciting new challenges in terms of trajectory optimization and positioning when they are used alone or in cooperation, and communication when they evolve in swarm, to name but a few examples. This book presents some new original contributions regarding UAV or UAV swarm optimization and communication aspects
Self-Evolving Integrated Vertical Heterogeneous Networks
6G and beyond networks tend towards fully intelligent and adaptive design in
order to provide better operational agility in maintaining universal wireless
access and supporting a wide range of services and use cases while dealing with
network complexity efficiently. Such enhanced network agility will require
developing a self-evolving capability in designing both the network
architecture and resource management to intelligently utilize resources, reduce
operational costs, and achieve the coveted quality of service (QoS). To enable
this capability, the necessity of considering an integrated vertical
heterogeneous network (VHetNet) architecture appears to be inevitable due to
its high inherent agility. Moreover, employing an intelligent framework is
another crucial requirement for self-evolving networks to deal with real-time
network optimization problems. Hence, in this work, to provide a better insight
on network architecture design in support of self-evolving networks, we
highlight the merits of integrated VHetNet architecture while proposing an
intelligent framework for self-evolving integrated vertical heterogeneous
networks (SEI-VHetNets). The impact of the challenges associated with
SEI-VHetNet architecture, on network management is also studied considering a
generalized network model. Furthermore, the current literature on network
management of integrated VHetNets along with the recent advancements in
artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) solutions are discussed.
Accordingly, the core challenges of integrating AI/ML in SEI-VHetNets are
identified. Finally, the potential future research directions for advancing the
autonomous and self-evolving capabilities of SEI-VHetNets are discussed.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures, 2 table
A survey on intelligent computation offloading and pricing strategy in UAV-Enabled MEC network: Challenges and research directions
The lack of resource constraints for edge servers makes it difficult to simultaneously perform a large number of Mobile Devices’ (MDs) requests. The Mobile Network Operator (MNO) must then select how to delegate MD queries to its Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) server in order to maximize the overall benefit of admitted requests with varying latency needs. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Artificial Intelligent (AI) can increase MNO performance because of their flexibility in deployment, high mobility of UAV, and efficiency of AI algorithms. There is a trade-off between the cost incurred by the MD and the profit received by the MNO. Intelligent computing offloading to UAV-enabled MEC, on the other hand, is a promising way to bridge the gap between MDs' limited processing resources, as well as the intelligent algorithms that are utilized for computation offloading in the UAV-MEC network and the high computing demands of upcoming applications. This study looks at some of the research on the benefits of computation offloading process in the UAV-MEC network, as well as the intelligent models that are utilized for computation offloading in the UAV-MEC network. In addition, this article examines several intelligent pricing techniques in different structures in the UAV-MEC network. Finally, this work highlights some important open research issues and future research directions of Artificial Intelligent (AI) in computation offloading and applying intelligent pricing strategies in the UAV-MEC network
Joint Trajectory and Resource Optimization of MEC-Assisted UAVs in Sub-THz Networks: A Resources-based Multi-Agent Proximal Policy Optimization DRL with Attention Mechanism
THz band communication technology will be used in the 6G networks to enable
high-speed and high-capacity data service demands. However, THz-communication
losses arise owing to limitations, i.e., molecular absorption, rain
attenuation, and coverage range. Furthermore, to maintain steady
THz-communications and overcome coverage distances in rural and suburban
regions, the required number of BSs is very high. Consequently, a new
communication platform that enables aerial communication services is required.
Furthermore, the airborne platform supports LoS communications rather than NLoS
communications, which helps overcome these losses. Therefore, in this work, we
investigate the deployment and resource optimization for MEC-enabled UAVs,
which can provide THz-based communications in remote regions. To this end, we
formulate an optimization problem to minimize the sum of the energy consumption
of both MEC-UAV and MUs and the delay incurred by MUs under the given task
information. The formulated problem is a MINLP problem, which is NP-hard. We
decompose the main problem into two subproblems to address the formulated
problem. We solve the first subproblem with a standard optimization solver,
i.e., CVXPY, due to its convex nature. To solve the second subproblem, we
design a RMAPPO DRL algorithm with an attention mechanism. The considered
attention mechanism is utilized for encoding a diverse number of observations.
This is designed by the network coordinator to provide a differentiated fit
reward to each agent in the network. The simulation results show that the
proposed algorithm outperforms the benchmark and yields a network utility which
is , , and more than the benchmarks.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figure
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