On the Placement and Sustainability of Drone FSO Backhaul Relays

TL;DR

This paper explores the deployment of drone-mounted free-space optical relays in urban environments, optimizing placement for line-of-sight connectivity and solar energy harvesting to enhance backhaul links for small cells.

Contribution

It introduces a deployment strategy for drone relay stations with solar panels in urban areas, balancing LOS connectivity and energy sustainability.

Findings

Optimized drone placement increases LOS link availability.

Solar-powered drones reduce recharge trips and improve sustainability.

Deployment framework adapts to urban building layouts.

Abstract

We consider free-space optical (FSO) communication links for the backhaul connectivity of small cells (SCs) where a UAV with an FSO apparatus can serve as a backhaul relay node. We demonstrate how such drone relay stations (DRSs) can be deployed in a high-rise urban area in order to provide FSO line-of-sight (LOS) links that are unobstructed by buildings. Also, in our solution we consider the case where solar panels are mounted on DRSs such that placing the DRS in a sunny location is prioritized, and we show the gain in terms of number of required trips to recharge the UAV.