UAV communication channel behavior analyzed over vegetation and lake areas
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Propagation Channel over Vegetation and Lake Areas: First- and Second-Order Statistical Analysis
Networking and Internet Architecture
Summary
Safe communication between drones and their control stations is important for drone applications like delivery and internet service. The authors studied how radio signals behave when drones fly over specific natural areas like bushes and lakes. They measured how the signal weakens and changes due to obstacles and movement. They also figured out how the drone's speed can be estimated from the signal changes. This helps in planning better communication systems for drones flying in such environments.
What this means in practice
- •For drone communication engineers: Design communication links for drones flying over vegetated and water areas using more accurate channel models derived from real measurements.
- •For wireless network planners: Predict signal quality and optimize placement of ground stations serving drones operating in mixed natural environments based on characterized fading and path loss effects.
Authors
Deyvid L. Leite, Pablo Javier Alsina, Millena M. de M. Campos, Vicente A. de Sousa Junior, Alvaro A. M. de Medeiros
Abstract
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to provide services such as the Internet, goods delivery, and air taxis has become a reality in recent years. The use of these aircraft requires a secure communication between the control station and the UAV, which demands the characterization of the communication channel. This paper aims to present a measurement setup using an unmanned aircraft to acquire data for the characterization of the radio frequency channel in a propagation environment with particular vegetation (Caatinga) and a lake. This paper presents the following contributions: identification of the communication channel model that best describes the characteristics of communication; characterization of the effects of large-scale fading, such as path loss and log-normal shadowing; characterization of small-scale fading (multipath and Doppler); and estimation of the aircraft speed from the identified Doppler frequency.