Air-to-Ground Channel Characterization for Low-Height UAVs in Realistic Network Deployments

TL;DR

This paper presents an extensive measurement-based characterization of air-to-ground channels for low-height UAVs, comparing directional and quasi-omnidirectional antennas in suburban environments to inform reliable communication system design.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive statistical analysis of key channel parameters for low-height UAVs in realistic suburban deployments, considering different antenna types.

Findings

Directional antennas improve signal quality compared to quasi-omnidirectional antennas.

Path loss and shadow fading vary significantly with antenna type and environment.

Channel characteristics like delay and Doppler spreads are quantified for UAV communication planning.

Abstract

Due to the decrease in cost, size and weight, \acp{UAV} are becoming more and more popular for general-purpose civil and commercial applications. Provision of communication services to \acp{UAV} both for user data and control messaging by using off-the-shelf terrestrial cellular deployments introduces several technical challenges. In this paper, an approach to the air-to-ground channel characterization for low-height \acp{UAV} based on an extensive measurement campaign is proposed, giving special attention to the comparison of the results when a typical directional antenna for network deployments is used and when a quasi-omnidirectional one is considered. Channel characteristics like path loss, shadow fading, root mean square delay and Doppler frequency spreads and the K-factor are statistically characterized for different suburban scenarios.