Dynamic Base Station Repositioning to Improve Performance of Drone Small Cells

TL;DR

This paper proposes algorithms for dynamically repositioning drone-based small cell stations to enhance spectral efficiency and balance energy consumption, demonstrating significant gains over fixed-position drones.

Contribution

It introduces autonomous repositioning algorithms for drone base stations that adapt to user movements, improving spectral efficiency while managing energy use.

Findings

Dynamic repositioning increases spectral efficiency by 15%.

A 10.5% spectral efficiency gain is achievable without extra energy costs.

Repositioning algorithms respond effectively to user activity and movement.

Abstract

Thanks to the recent advancements in drone technology, it has become viable and cost-effective to quickly deploy small cells in areas of urgent needs by using a drone as a cellular base station. In this paper, we explore the benefit of dynamically repositioning the drone base station in the air to reduce the distance between the BS and the mobile user equipment, thereby improving the spectral efficiency of the small cell. In particular, we propose algorithms to autonomously control the repositioning of the drone in response to users activities and movements. We demonstrate that, compared to a drone hovering at a fixed location, dynamic repositioning of the drone moving with high speed can increase spectral efficiency by 15\%. However, considering the tradeoff between spectral efficiency and energy efficiency of the drone, we show that 10.5\% spectral efficiency gain can be obtained without negatively affecting energy consumption of the drone.