The Future of Aerial Communications: A Survey of IRS-Enhanced UAV Communication Technologies
Zina Chkirbene, Ala Gouissem, Ridha Hamila, Devrim Unal

TL;DR
This survey explores the integration of Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces and UAVs to enhance wireless communication networks, emphasizing improvements in security, energy efficiency, and coverage, along with machine learning applications for optimization.
Contribution
It provides a comprehensive overview of IRS-UAV integration, highlighting recent advancements, practical applications, and future research directions in next-generation wireless networks.
Findings
IRS-UAV integration significantly improves network performance.
Machine learning enhances deployment and operation strategies.
Real-world experiments demonstrate practical benefits.
Abstract
The advent of Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRS) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is setting a new benchmark in the field of wireless communications. IRS, with their groundbreaking ability to manipulate electromagnetic waves, have opened avenues for substantial enhancements in signal quality, network efficiency, and spectral usage. These surfaces dynamically reconfigure the propagation environment, leading to optimized signal paths and reduced interference. Concurrently, UAVs have emerged as dynamic, versatile elements within communication networks, offering high mobility and the ability to access and enhance coverage in areas where traditional, fixed infrastructure falls short. This paper presents a comprehensive survey on the synergistic integration of IRS and UAVs in wireless networks, highlighting how this innovative combination substantially boosts network performance,…
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