In this article, we share some of our experience in Long-Term Evolution (LTE) connectivity for low altitude small UAVs. We first identify the typical airborne connectivity requirements and characteristics, highlight the different propagation conditions for UAVs and mobiles on the ground with measurement and ray tracing results, and present simulation results to shed light on the feasibility of providing LTE connectivity for UAVs.
We also present several ideas on potential enhancements for improving LTE connectivity performance and identify fruitful avenues for future research.
Full abstract in IEEE Xplore, DOI: 10.1109/MCOM.2018.1700643
Authors
Xingqin Lin, Vijaya Yajnanarayana, Siva D. Muruganathan, Shiwei Gao, Henrik Asplund, Helka-Liina Määttänen, Mattias Bergström, Sebastian Euler, and Y.-P. Eric Wang.
Published in IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 56, no. 4, pp. 204-210, April 2018
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The paper was awarded the IEEE Communications Society Fred W. Ellersick Prize in 2021.