IRS-aided UAV for Future Wireless Communications: A Survey and Research Opportunities

Both unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRS) are gaining traction as transformative technologies for upcoming wireless networks. The IRS-aided UAV communication, which introduces IRSs into UAV communications, has emerged in an effort to improve the system performance while also overcoming UAV communication constraints and issues. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of IRSassisted UAV communications. First, we provide five examples of how IRSs and UAVs can be combined to achieve unrivaled potential in difficult situations. The technological features of the most recent relevant researches on IRS-aided UAV communications from the perspective of the main performance criteria, i.e., energy efficiency, security, spectral efficiency, etc. Additionally, previous research studies on technology adoption as machine learning algorithms. Lastly, some promising research directions and open challenges for IRS-aided UAV communication are presented

Energy-efficient non-orthogonal multiple access for wireless communication system

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been recognized as a potential solution for enhancing the throughput of next-generation wireless communications. NOMA is a potential option for 5G networks due to its superiority in providing better spectrum efficiency (SE) compared to orthogonal multiple access (OMA). From the perspective of green communication, energy efficiency (EE) has become a new performance indicator. A systematic literature review is conducted to investigate the available energy efficient approach researchers have employed in NOMA. We identified 19 subcategories related to EE in NOMA out of 108 publications where 92 publications are from the IEEE website. To help the reader comprehend, a summary for each category is explained and elaborated in detail. From the literature review, it had been observed that NOMA can enhance the EE of wireless communication systems. At the end of this survey, future research particularly in machine learning algorithms such as reinforcement learning (RL) and deep reinforcement learning (DRL) for NOMA are also discussed

On the power-splitting relaying protocol for SWIPT with multiple UAVs in downlink NOMA-IoT networks

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) are two promising technologies for wireless 5G networks and beyond. The UAVs can be used as flying base stations to form line-of-sight communication links to the Internet of things devices (IDs) and to enhance the performance of usual terrestrial cellular networks. Moreover, the UAVs can also be deployed as flying relay nodes for forwarding data from a base station (BS) to the IDs. On the other hand, non-orthogonal resource sharing for many concurrent users is exploited in NOMA, thus improving spectrum efficiency (SE) and supporting massive connections. The NOMA combined with energy harvesting (EH) in an amplify-and-forward (AF) with cooperative UAV systems is researched. Specifically, the UAVs act as rotary-wing relays to forward data from the BSs to two IDs. This paper focuses on the analysis of outage probabilities (OPs), system throughput, and energy efficiency (EE) for two IDs. Besides, we also do the asymptotic analysis of OPs at high signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Furthermore, this paper also inspects the impacts of the UAV-based relaying on the OP, system throughput, and EE of the proposed NOMA scheme. The derived asymptotic expansions show that the suggested model can enhance user fairness and the analytical results match the simulation results

Relaying in the Internet of Things (IoT): A Survey

The deployment of relays between Internet of Things (IoT) end devices and gateways can improve link quality. In cellular-based IoT, relays have the potential to reduce base station overload. The energy expended in single-hop long-range communication can be reduced if relays listen to transmissions of end devices and forward these observations to gateways. However, incorporating relays into IoT networks faces some challenges. IoT end devices are designed primarily for uplink communication of small-sized observations toward the network; hence, opportunistically using end devices as relays needs a redesign of both the medium access control (MAC) layer protocol of such end devices and possible addition of new communication interfaces. Additionally, the wake-up time of IoT end devices needs to be synchronized with that of the relays. For cellular-based IoT, the possibility of using infrastructure relays exists, and noncellular IoT networks can leverage the presence of mobile devices for relaying, for example, in remote healthcare. However, the latter presents problems of incentivizing relay participation and managing the mobility of relays. Furthermore, although relays can increase the lifetime of IoT networks, deploying relays implies the need for additional batteries to power them. This can erode the energy efficiency gain that relays offer. Therefore, designing relay-assisted IoT networks that provide acceptable trade-offs is key, and this goes beyond adding an extra transmit RF chain to a relay-enabled IoT end device. There has been increasing research interest in IoT relaying, as demonstrated in the available literature. Works that consider these issues are surveyed in this paper to provide insight into the state of the art, provide design insights for network designers and motivate future research directions

Architecture design for disaster resilient management network using D2D technology

Huge damages from natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, landslide, tsunamis, have been reported in recent years, claiming many lives, rendering millions homeless and causing huge financial losses worldwide. The lack of effective communication between the public rescue/safety agencies, rescue teams, first responders and trapped survivors/victims makes the situation even worse. Factors like dysfunctional communication networks, limited communications capacity, limited resources/services, data transformation and effective evaluation, energy, and power deficiency cause unnecessary hindrance in rescue and recovery services during a disaster. The new wireless communication technologies are needed to enhance life-saving capabilities and rescue services. In general, in order to improve societal resilience towards natural catastrophes and develop effective communication infrastructure, innovative approaches need to be initiated to provide improved quality, better connectivity in the events of natural and human disasters. In this thesis, a disaster resilient network architecture is proposed and analysed using multi-hop communications, clustering, energy harvesting, throughput optimization, reliability enhancement, adaptive selection, and low latency communications. It also examines the importance of mode selection, power management, frequency and time resource allocation to realize the promises of Long-term Evolution (LTE) Device to Device (D2D) communication. In particular, to support resilient and energy efficient communication in disaster-affected areas. This research is examined by thorough and vigorous simulations and validated through mathematical modelling. Overall, the impact of this research is twofold: i) it provides new technologies for effective inter- and intra-agency coordination system during a disaster event by establishing a stronger and resilient communication; and ii) It offers a potential solution for stakeholders such as governments, rescue teams, and general public with new informed information on how to establish effective policies to cope with challenges before, during and after the disaster events

UAV-Enabled SWIPT in IoT Networks for Emergency Communications

Energy-limited devices and connectivity in complicated environments are two main challenges for Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled mobile networks, especially when IoT devices are distributed in a disaster area. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-enabled simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) is emerging as a promising technique to tackle the above problems. In this article, we establish an emergency communications framework of UAV-enabled SWIPT for IoT networks, where the disaster scenarios are classified into three cases, namely, dense areas, wide areas and emergency areas. First, to realize wireless power transfer for IoT devices in dense areas, a UAV-enabled wireless power transfer system is considered where a UAV acts as a wireless charger and delivers energy to a set of energy receivers. Then, a joint trajectory planning and resource scheduling scheme for a multi-UAVs system is discussed to provide wireless services for IoT devices in wide areas. Furthermore, an intelligent prediction mechanism is designed to predict service requirements (i.e., data transmission and battery charging) of the devices in emergency areas, and accordingly, a dynamic path planning scheme is established to improve the energy efficiency (EE) of the system. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the above schemes. Finally, potential research directions and challenges are also discussed