Enhancing Coverage and Reducing Power Consumption in Peer-to-Peer Networks Through Airborne Relaying

Abstract

Abstract-Over the years peer-to-peer (P2P) multi-hop relays have been studied for mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) to overcome poor signal coverage and to improve connectivity. However, for an urban environment, particularly with a sparse mobile distribution, a ground relay is not able to achieve significant benefits, mainly due to the extremely high pathloss and shadowing encountered. Dedicated airborne relay nodes, at a height of hundreds or thousands of meters, can provide much better coverage, and hence improve the connectivity, decrease the number of hops, reduce the power consumption, and support co-operative relays when integrated into mobile ad-hoc networks. An air node can also act as the sink for current wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Despite these potential advantages, the coverage from an air node located directly above an urban operating environment has not been adequately investigated in the literature. This paper compares the advantages of airborne relaying compared to more conventional peer-to-peer mobile relays. Three channel types are considered, i.e. line-of-sight (LoS), obstructed LoS (OLoS), and non-LoS (NLoS), each with their own likelihood, pathloss, and shadowing models. The practical gain pattern of a hemispheric antenna, or a directional antenna, is also carefully considered for the air node. Comparisons of the air-to-ground (A2G) channel and the mobile P2P channel demonstrate that airborne relays can enhance the coverage and reduce the power consumption significantly.

Design of Ad Hoc Wireless Mesh Networks Formed by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with Advanced Mechanical Automation

“…They are also operated as an ad hoc wireless mesh network infrastructure that connects such isolated areas to a communication infrastructure [7][8][9], which could be a promising solution, particularly for collecting sensor data obtained in these areas. The benefits of airborne relaying, in which a UAV provides an interconnection between an isolated area and a communication infrastructure, have been discussed [10]. It was reported that airborne connection provides better con-nectivity and throughput than ground connections because three-dimensional positioning of relaying nodes provides line-of-site (LOS) propagation and suppresses shadowing and fading effects more effectively.…”

Dynamic Antenna Alignment Control in Microwave Air-Bridging for Sky-Net Mobile Communication Using Unmanned Flying Platform

“…Because of the Line-of-Sight (LoS) characteristics of the flying platform, this kind of airborne relay equipment can provide more coverage or increase the link capacity for heavy loading area. The coverage emulation studied by Feng et al [2] also adopted multi-HAP on signal relay missions. The increment of link capacity was proved by Grace et al [3] and Elshaikh et al [4].…”