Base Station Antenna Uptilt Optimization for Cellular-Connected Drone Corridors

Maeng, Sung Joon; Chowdhury, Md Uddin; Guvenc, Ismail; Bhuyan, Arupjyoti; Dai, Huaiyu

doi:10.1109/taes.2023.3237994

Base Station Antenna Uptilt Optimization for Cellular-Connected Drone Corridors

Journal Article · Sat Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2022 · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronics Systems

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/taes.2023.3237994· OSTI ID:1963676

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North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC (United States)
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Reliable wireless coverage in drone corridors is critical to enable a connected, safe, and secure airspace. To support beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations of aerial vehicles in a drone corridor, cellular base stations (BSs) can serve as a convenient infrastructure as they are widely deployed to provide seamless wireless coverage. However, antennas in the existing cellular networks are down-tilted to optimally serve their ground users, which results in coverage holes at higher altitudes when they are used to serve drones. In this paper, we consider the use of additional uptilted antennas at each cellular BS and optimize the uptilt angle to maximize the wireless coverage probability across a given drone corridor. Through numerical results, we can characterize the optimal value of the antenna uptilt angle for a given antenna pattern as well as the minimum/maximum altitudes of the drone corridor.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program

Grant/Contract Number:: AC07-05ID14517

OSTI ID:: 1963676

Report Number(s):: INL/JOU-22-69528

Journal Information:: IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronics Systems, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronics Systems Journal Issue: -; ISSN 0018-9251

Publisher:: IEEECopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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