Tutorial: Role of Flying Platforms for Coverage Hole Discovery and Global Connectivity

Description

Abstract Driven by an emerging use of flying platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), drones and unmanned balloons in future network applications and the challenges that the 6G networks exhibit, the focus of this tutorial is to demonstrate the evolution of the flying platforms as a novel architectural enabler for radio access network (RAN) and their integration with the future cellular access and backhaul/fronthaul networks. These platforms are networked, flying and a potential way to offer high data rate, high reliability and ultra-low latent access and backhaul/fronthaul to future wireless networks. Such large scale deployable platforms and frameworks will guarantee the global information and communication requirements in future smart and resilient cities and solve the ubiquitous connectivity problems in many challenging and temporary network environments, e.g., coverage or capacity enhancements for temporary healthcare and disaster infrastructure such as the ones being built in Glasgow, London and in the several cities all round the world during Covid-19 Pandemic. It is expected that these pop-up networks will enable emerging remote healthcare applications and services and offer social connectivity for patients and frontline workers. This tutorial will provide balanced coverage on recent trends, challenges and future research and development on the integration of flying platforms with the future wireless networks.
Specifically, this tutorial will provide answers for the following:
• How flying platforms can be used for autonomous coverage hole discovery as an alternate to the minimization drive test using machine learning to offer a reliable and scalable solution to enhance the coverage and capacity of the access networks (flying platform base station placement and user associations)?
• How flying platforms can be used to fronthaul the small cell deployment to the core network (e.g., fronthaul at temporary sites) and offer a flexible wireless solution (playing platform deployment architecture, potential high data rate technologies, e.g., free space optics (FSO) and playing platform-small cell association)?
• What are the economic, regulatory and industrial perspectives of deploying flying platforms for cellular access and backhaul networks (total cost of operation, automation and some latest regulations)

Period	11 Jun 2020
Event title	IEEE International Conference on Communications
Event type	Conference
Location	Dublin, IrelandShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International