The Essential Guide to Realizing 5G-Connected UAVs with Massive MIMO

Abstract

What will it take for drones-and the whole associated ecosystem-to take off ? Arguably, infallible command and control (C&C) channels for safe and autonomous flying, and high-throughput links for multi-purpose live video streaming. And indeed, meeting these aspirations may entail a full cellular support, provided through 5G-and-beyond hardware and software upgrades by both mobile operators and manufacturers of these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In this article, we vouch for massive MIMO as the key building block to realize 5G-connected UAVs. Through the sheer evidence of 3GPPcompliant simulations, we demonstrate how massive MIMO can be enhanced by complementary network-based and UAVbased solutions, resulting in consistent UAV C&C support, large UAV uplink data rates, and harmonious coexistence with legacy ground users.• The efficacy of massive MIMO (mMIMO) fades in the presence of many high-altitude UAVs. Moreover, pilot

Survey on UAV Cellular Communications: Practical Aspects, Standardization Advancements, Regulation, and Security Challenges

“…The cellular industry has recognized the importance of providing support to low-altitude UAVs for enabling beyond LOS control and establishing a reliable communication [2], [37]- [40]. This section summarizes the outcomes and current status of a number of industry-led initiatives with the above targets.…”

“…Based on the above traffic and channel characterizations, the companies involved in the SI evaluated the performance of cellular networks serving both airborne and ground users (GUEs). These studies demonstrate that UAVs are more likely to undergo downlink and uplink interference problems than GUEs [2], [39], [40], [42], [55]- [59]. This is mainly due to two factors, namely, that flying UAVs are likely to be in line-of-sight with a large number of base stations (BSs) [60], and that the majority of these BSs are downtilted [61], since their deployment has been optimized for providing coverage to GUEs.…”

“…• UAV location and flight plan knowledge can be lever- Fig. 4: Illustration of the UAV interference challenge in cellular networks: UAVs flying above the building clutter (e.g., the red-coloured UAV) generate/perceive interference towards/from a multiplicity of line-of-sight BSs [39], [40]. Instead, UAVs flying at low altitudes (e.g., the blue-coloured UAV) only generate/perceive interference towards/from nearby BSs.…”

“…This information can be subsequently exploited to facilitate handovers. Ultimately, it is expected that the 3GPP continues its work on the UAV space in the future, possibly through the definition of a new WI focused on 5G-based solutions like massive MIMO [39], [40], [68]- [70].…”

Cell-Free Massive MIMO for UAV Communications

“…The second research approach focuses on the services that the network can bring to UAVs, and in particular on the use of a wireless network to support communications with UAVs [3]- [6]. Considering the latter approach, [7]- [9] have recently investigated the use of massive MIMO (mMIMO) to support UAVs cellular communications, showing that equipping base stations (BSs) with large antenna arrays dramatically increases-with respect to a traditional cellular deployment-the probability of meeting the stringent reliability requirements of the UAVs command and control (C&C) link.…”