Long mmWave Backhaul Connectivity Using Fixed-Wing UAVs

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the design and performance of fixed-wing UAV-based mmWave backhaul links for connecting remote or disaster areas, considering real-world channel effects and optimizing flight paths and antenna patterns.

Contribution

It presents an optimal relay system design for fixed-wing UAVs that accounts for practical channel parameters and physical obstacles, enhancing backhaul connectivity solutions.

Findings

Optimized UAV flight paths improve link reliability.

System performance evaluated in terms of outage probability and capacity.

Physical obstacles significantly impact mmWave backhaul performance.

Abstract

This paper discusses the analysis of a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based millimeter wave (mmWave) backhaul link, that is offered as a cost-effective and easy deploy the solution to connect a disaster or remote area to the nearest core network. We present the optimal design of a relay system based on fixed-wing UAV, taking into account the actual channel parameters such as the UAV vibrations, tracking error, real 3GPP antenna pattern, UAV's height, flight path, and the effect of physical obstacles. The performance of the considered system is evaluated in terms of outage probability and the channel capacity while taking into account the impact of the system parameters such as optimal selection of UAV flight path and antenna patterns.