A Survey on Millimeter-Wave Beamforming Enabled UAV Communications and Networking

Xiao Z, Zhu L, Liu Y, Yi P, Zhang R, Xia XG, Schober R (2022)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Book Volume: 24

Pages Range: 557-610

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1109/COMST.2021.3124512

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have found widespread commercial, civilian, and military applications. Wireless communication has always been one of the core technologies for UAV. However, the communication capacity is becoming a bottleneck for UAV to support more challenging application scenarios. The heavily-occupied sub-6 GHz frequency band is not sufficient to meet the ultra high-data-traffic requirements. The utilization of the millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequency bands is a promising direction for UAV communications, where large antenna arrays can be packed in a small area on the UAV to perform three-dimensional (3D) beamforming. On the other hand, UAVs serving as aerial access points or relays can significantly enhance the coverage and quality of service of the terrestrial mmWave cellular networks. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on mmWave beamforming enabled UAV communications and networking. The technical potential of and challenges for mmWave-UAV communications are presented first. Then, we provide an overview on relevant mmWave antenna structures and channel modeling. Subsequently, the technologies and solutions for UAV-connected mmWave cellular networks and mmWave-UAV ad hoc networks are reviewed, respectively. Finally, we present open issues and promising directions for future research in mmWave beamforming enabled UAV communications and networking.

Authors with CRIS profile

Robert Schober Lehrstuhl für Digitale Übertragung

Involved external institutions

Beihang University, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA) / 北京航空航天大学 CN China (CN) University of Delaware (UDEL) US United States (USA) (US) National University of Singapore (NUS) SG Singapore (SG)

How to cite

APA:

Xiao, Z., Zhu, L., Liu, Y., Yi, P., Zhang, R., Xia, X.G., & Schober, R. (2022). A Survey on Millimeter-Wave Beamforming Enabled UAV Communications and Networking. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 24(1), 557-610. https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/COMST.2021.3124512

MLA:

Xiao, Zhenyu, et al. "A Survey on Millimeter-Wave Beamforming Enabled UAV Communications and Networking." IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 24.1 (2022): 557-610.

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