This is a repository copy of Designing and Implementing Future Aerial Communication Networks.

No abstract

Hybrid aerial-terrestrial communication networks based on Low Altitude Platforms (LAPs) are expected to optimally meet the urgent communication needs of emergency relief and recovery operations for tackling large scale natural disasters. The energy-efficient operation of such networks is important given the fact that the entire network infrastructure, including the battery operated ground terminals, exhibits requirements to operate under power-constrained situations. In this paper, we discuss the design and evaluation of an adaptive cooperative scheme intended to extend the survivability of the battery operated aerial-terrestrial communication links. We propose and evaluate a real-time adaptive cooperative transmission strategy for dynamic selection between direct and cooperative links based on the channel conditions for improved energy efficiency. We show that the cooperation between mobile terrestrial terminals on the ground could improve the energy efficiency in the uplink depending on the temporal behavior of the terrestrial and the aerial uplink channels. The corresponding delay in having cooperative (relay-based) communications with relay selection is also addressed. The simulation analysis corroborates that the adaptive transmission technique improves the overall energy efficiency of the network whilst maintaining low latency enabling real time applications. .A preliminary version of the mathematical model and the scenarios presented in this manuscript appeared in the proceedings of IEEE PIMRC'11 [13]. In this manuscript, we have progressed substantially with the modeling aspects and also with respect to the implementation and simulations.

The Southern California Twin Register at the University of Southern California (USC) was initiated in 1984 and continues to provide an important resource for studies investigating genetic and environmental influences on human behavior. This article provides an update on the current register and its potential for future twin studies using recruitment through school district databases and voter records. An overview is also provided for an ongoing longitudinal twin study investigating the development of externalizing psychopathology from childhood to young adulthood, the USC Study of Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior. Characteristics of the twins and their families are presented, including recruitment and participation rates, as well as attrition analyses and a summary of key findings to date.