UAV-Based in-band Integrated Access and Backhaul for 5G Communications

TL;DR

This paper explores using UAVs as drone base stations for in-band integrated access and backhaul in 5G networks, proposing an optimization framework for network performance enhancement.

Contribution

It introduces a novel system model and an optimization framework leveraging UAV mobility for improved 5G network performance in IB-IAB scenarios.

Findings

Proposed algorithm improves SINR and sum-rate.

Demonstrated performance gains via exhaustive search.

Optimized UAV placement and resource allocation.

Abstract

We introduce the concept of using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as drone base stations for in-band Integrated Access and Backhaul (IB-IAB) scenarios for 5G networks. We first present a system model for forward link transmissions in an IB-IAB multi-tier drone cellular network. We then investigate the key challenges of this scenario and propose a framework that utilizes the flying capabilities of the UAVs as the main degree of freedom to find the optimal precoder design for the backhaul links, user-base station association, UAV 3D hovering locations, and power allocations. We discuss how the proposed algorithm can be utilized to optimize the network performance in both large and small scales. Finally, we use an exhaustive search-based solution to demonstrate the performance gains that can be achieved from the presented algorithm in terms of the received signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) and overall network sum-rate.