Energy-efficient and solar powered mission planning of UAV swarms to reduce the coverage gap in rural areas: The 3D case

Optimum Sizing of Photovoltaic-Battery Power Supply for Drone-Based Cellular Networks

“…Although the majority of the world's population has access to the internet through mobile networks, there is still a coverage gap in some rural and remote low-income areas [1][2][3]. Since the average cost of installing network infrastructure in remote areas is double the cost in urban areas, and due to a lower obtained revenue in rural areas, the deployment of fixed terrestrial mobile networks in remote areas is not cost-effective [1][2][3][4][5][6].…”

“…A new component in cellular networks is drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), as small cellular base stations for covering scattered populations, especially in remote areas where the deployment of mobile networks is a burdensome task [2][3][4]. Compared to terrestrial cellular networks, UAV-aided networks are also more flexible.…”

“…However, the major concerns in drone-based deployment are the limitations and constraints of the drones' batteries [2]. These batteries need to be charged in recharging sites connected to the electricity grid, which in turn, leads to an excess cost [3]. Nevertheless, in some cases, there is no access to a reliable electricity grid in rural areas [5].…”

“…Nevertheless, in some cases, there is no access to a reliable electricity grid in rural areas [5]. To deal with these challenges, renewable energy sources (RESs), such as solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, can be deployed to supply the charging sites of UAVs in rural areas [3]. Besides being able to meet the needs of energy demand, RESs can also reduce the impact of fossil pollutants on the environment and guarantee socio-economic benefits for sustainable development [7,8].…”

“…Compared to ground-based base stations, UAV-mounted small cellular base stations are able to cover specific sections of an area, have proper channel conditions towards users, and have the possibility of efficiently planning the UAVs' missions to schedule their coverage properly [6]. Consequently, an appealing choice for providing cellular networks in rural areas is small cellular base stations installed on UAVs [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Different aspects of UAV applications in cellular networks, including UAV mission planning, were studied in [3,[32][33][34][35][36] and reveal the significance of the presence of UAVs in future mobile networks.…”