The unprecedented development of non-terrestrial networks (NTN) utilizes the
low-altitude airspace for commercial and social flying activities. The
integration of NTN and terres- trial networks leads to the emergence of
low-altitude economy (LAE). A series of LAE application scenarios are enabled
by the sensing, communication, and transportation functionalities of the
aircrafts. The prerequisite technologies supporting LAE are introduced in this
paper, including the network coverage and aircrafts detection. The LAE
functionalities assisted by aircrafts with respect to sensing and communication
are then summarized, including the terrestrial and non-terrestrial targets
sensing, ubiquitous coverage, relaying, and traffic offloading. Finally,
several future directions are identified, including aircrafts collaboration,
energy efficiency, and artificial intelligence enabled LAE.Comment: This paper has been submitted to IEEE for possible publicatio