Deploying UAVs to support rural networks

Although ubiquitous connectivity is one of the main goals for 5G and beyond networks, the low expected profit prevents telecommunication providers from investing in sparsely populated areas. Hence, cost efficient alternatives such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)-mounted base stations are required for extending the cellular infrastructure to these regions.

In this work, a new stochastic geometry-based model has been implemented to show the coverage spatial variation among urban, suburban, and exurban settlements.  Based on this, the numerical results have quantified the improvements that even a surprisingly low density of ABSs can bring to peripheral regions. 

More details about this work from this project can be found in the video and in the following publication:

M. Matracia, M.A. Kishk, M.-S. Alouini, "Coverage analysis for UAV-assisted cellular networks in rural areas", IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology, Vol. 2, pp. 194-206, 2021.  DOI: 10.1109/OJVT.2021.3076814.