Enabling On-Demand Cyber-Physical Control Applications with UAV Access Points

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the potential of UAV access points to provide reliable, on-demand cyber-physical control services by analyzing burst-error behavior and latency in a combined LTE and Wi-Fi setup.

Contribution

It introduces an analytical burst-error model for UAV-based access points and assesses their feasibility for cyber-physical control applications.

Findings

UAVAPs can potentially meet latency and reliability requirements for cyber-physical traffic.

The Gilbert-Elliott burst-error analysis provides insights into UAVAP system performance.

Combined LTE and Wi-Fi setup is plausible in various network environments.

Abstract

Achieving cyber-physical control over a wireless channel requires satisfying both the timeliness of a single packet and preserving the latency reliability across several consecutive packets. To satisfy those requirements as an ubiquitous service requires big infrastructural developments, or flexible on-demand equipment such as UAVs. To avoid the upfront cost in terms of finance and energy, this paper analyzes the capability of UAV access points (UAVAPs) to satisfy the requirements for cyber-physical traffic. To investigate this, we perform a Gilbert-Eliott burst-error analysis that is analytically derived as a combination of two separate latency measurement campaigns and provide an upper-bound analysis of the UAVAP system. The analysis is centered around a UAVAP that uses its LTE connection to reach the backhaul, while providing service to ground nodes (GNs) with a Wi-Fi access point (AP). Thus, we combine both measurement campaigns to analyze the plausibility of the described setup in casual, crowded or mixed network settings.