Elevating the future of mobility: UAV-enabled Intelligent Transportation Systems

TL;DR

This paper explores the integration of UAVs into Intelligent Transportation Systems to create a 3D network that enhances coverage and supports multi-modal transportation, especially in urban areas.

Contribution

It introduces a novel 3D ITS framework utilizing UAV-based aerial base stations to improve coverage and network performance over traditional terrestrial systems.

Findings

UAV-based ABSs provide 106.67% more coverage than TBSs.

ABSs offer higher SNR distribution, improving signal quality.

Suitable for high-throughput ITS applications.

Abstract

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) increasingly rely on connectivity for efficient traffic management and enhanced user experience. The existing ITS solutions operate mainly within a 2D domain, thus missing the potential benefits of aerial platforms. This paper envisions 3D ITS by integrating aerial platforms, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), to simultaneously improve network coverage and support multi-modal transportation, including Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). Using stochastic models, we investigate how UAV-based Aerial Base Stations (ABSs) can address the limitations of traditional Terrestrial Base Stations (TBSs) by offering superior coverage, particularly in urban environments. Our results demonstrate that ABSs have 106.67% more coverage area than TBS, higher Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) distribution, and are suitable for high-throughput ITS applications.