Communications Standards for Unmanned Aircraft Systems: The 3GPP Perspective and Research Drivers

Abdalla, Aly Sabri; Marojevic, Vuk

doi:10.1109/mcomstd.001.2000032

Cited by 68 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…The specifications for such feedback depend on whether the controller is in visual line-of-sight (VLoS), or beyond VLoS (BVLoS). Autonomous flight is also possible via the UTM, which then provides predefined trajectories in the form of four-dimensional polygons while the UAV feeds back periodic position reports for tracking purposes [54].…”

Section: Uav Communicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Will the Future of UAV Cellular Communications Be? A Flight From 5G to 6G

Geraci

García‐Rodríguez

Azari

et al. 2022

IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutorials

224

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What will the future of UAV cellular communications be? In this tutorial article, we address such a compelling yet difficult question by embarking on a journey from 5G to 6G and expounding a large number of case studies supported by original results. We start by overviewing the status quo on UAV communications from an industrial standpoint, providing fresh updates from the 3GPP and detailing new 5G NR features in support of aerial devices. We then dissect the potential and the limitations of such features. In particular, we demonstrate how sub-6 GHz massive MIMO can successfully tackle cell selection and interference challenges, we showcase encouraging mmWave coverage evaluations in both urban and suburban/rural settings, and we examine the peculiarities of direct device-todevice communications in the sky. Moving on, we sneak a peek at next-generation UAV communications, listing some of the use cases envisioned for the 2030s. We identify the most promising 6G enablers for UAV communication, those expected to take the performance and reliability to the next level. For each of these disruptive new paradigms (non-terrestrial networks, cellfree architectures, artificial intelligence, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, and THz communications), we gauge the prospective benefits for UAVs and discuss the main technological hurdles that stand in the way. All along, we distil our numerous findings into essential takeaways, and we identify key open problems worthy of further study.

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Section: Uav Communicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Will the Future of UAV Cellular Communications Be? A Flight From 5G to 6G

Geraci

García‐Rodríguez

Azari

et al. 2022

IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutorials

224

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The communication standardizing for WI UAV was first initiated by 3GPP in 2017, followed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in the same year, and subsequently, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) joined a year later. As shown in Table I, these three standard bodies have actively contributed several technical reports and sections via intensive theoretical and practical investigations that help in the development of WI UAV [4]. The four basic objectives of the 3GPP wireless communication standard for WI UAVs are as follows:…”

Section: B Wireless Connectivity Standardizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, to enhance RAN's flexibility for supporting massive dynamic connections, the cellular operators have switched their focus from terrestrial to airborne communications. Promoted by the mature flight control technologies and various commercial unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) products, the various types of airborne terminals are now being researched and developed all over the world [3], [4]. Specifically, UAV, commonly known as a drone, has gained large attention as it operates autonomously without a human pilot onboard or partially controlled remotely by a human pilot.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

6G NR-U Based Wireless Infrastructure UAV: Standardization, Opportunities, Challenges and Future Scopes

et al. 2022

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Providing ubiquitous connectivity for people and equipment with a wide range of service conditions is regarded as the major design goal of 6G networks. Moreover, the future 6G networks need to be extremely flexible to enable reliable and low-latency access for the dynamic number of mobile user equipment. The current base stations (BSs) and remote relay antennas are mostly, on the other hand, installed at fixed geographic locations based on long-term traffic patterns with little re-deployment flexibility. For most 6G applications, where dynamic data traffic occurs in both spatial and temporal domains, such rigid radio access networks (RANs) are unable to maintain ubiquitous connectivity. On the other hand, the rapid advancement of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology is creating a unique opportunity for the cellular operator to realize flying wireless infrastructure called wireless infrastructure UAV (WI UAV). WI UAV supports wireless connectivity and can stir itself to improve spectral efficiency, coverage, and quality of service of the end-users. This paper introduces 6G new radio in the unlicensed band (NR-U)-based WI UAV that can be used as a base station, relay, or data collector/disseminator. UAV are categorized based on their characteristics, applications, and operations. Further, this paper discusses various regulatory and standardization initiatives for integrating UAVs into the cellular network. Non-standalone NR-U network architecture is designed and explained for WI UAV. Several opportunities and design challenges of NR-U for the WI UAV are discussed and future scopes of WI UAVs are presented.

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“…6. Aly and Vuk in [85] further investigated communication standards for FANETs in terms of remote identification of UAVs, command and control communications, radio access network (RAN) support, and various solutions to the RF interference problem when integrating cellular UAVs. They also discussed FANET node registration and wireless service requirements.…”

Section: A Standards For Fanetsmentioning

confidence: 99%