An Overview of 3GPP Release-15 Study on Enhanced LTE Support for Connected Drones

TL;DR

This paper reviews the 3GPP Release-15 study on enhancing LTE networks to support low altitude UAV connectivity, highlighting challenges, solutions, and key standard features.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the study's findings, including UAV requirements, challenges, and proposed LTE enhancements for UAV connectivity.

Findings

Identified interference and mobility challenges in LTE for UAVs

Proposed solutions include interference mitigation and mobility improvements

Standardized key features for UAV support in LTE Release-15

Abstract

Cellular connectivity to low altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has received significant interest recently which has led to a 3GPP study on enhanced LTE support for connected UAVs in Release 15. The objective of the study is to investigate the capability of long-term evolution (LTE) networks for providing connectivity to UAVs. In this article, we provide an overview of the key findings of the 3GPP Release-15 study-item phase. We first introduce UAV connectivity requirements and performance evaluation scenarios defined in the study. We then discuss radio channel models and the key identified challenges of using LTE networks to provide connectivity to UAVs. We summarize potential solutions to address the challenges including interference detection and mitigation techniques, mobility enhancements, and UAV identification. Finally, we also shed light on the key features standardized during the Release-15 work-item phase.