On the Outage Performance of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Assisted UAV Communications

Abualhayja'a, M., Centeno, A. , Mohjazi, L. , Abbasi, Q. and Imran, M. (2023) On the Outage Performance of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Assisted UAV Communications. In: IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC2023), Glasgow, Scotland, UK, 26-29 March 2023, ISBN 9781665491228 (doi: 10.1109/WCNC55385.2023.10118821)

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) are expected to be widely used in future wireless communication networks to improve spectrum and energy efficiency. In this paper, RIS-assisted UAV communication systems are studied and analysed by developing a comprehensive mathematical framework for examining their outage performance. In order to study the effect of the RIS on UAV communications, two system scenarios are considered: in the first scenario, the UAV acts as an aerial base station (BS) serving a ground user to offload the terrestrial network, and in the second system, the UAV acts as an aerial user served by a terrestrial BS. We present channel models considering the UAV’s unique characteristics, propose a closed-form approximation for the signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) distribution, and derive an analytical expression for the relevant outage probability. Results show that RIS can significantly improve the performance of UAV communication systems by introducing energy-efficient and reliable links. This opens the door for UAV networks, which are highly scalable, adaptable, and robust to environmental changes. Furthermore, the results show that the UAV position and altitude optimisation significantly affects the outage performance.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Abualhayja'a, Mohammad and Abbasi, Professor Qammer and Centeno, Dr Anthony and Imran, Professor Muhammad and Mohjazi, Dr Lina
• Authors: Abualhayja'a, M., Centeno, A., Mohjazi, L., Abbasi, Q., and Imran, M.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Autonomous Systems and Connectivity; College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• ISSN: 1558-2612
• ISBN: 9781665491228
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023, IEEE
• First Published: First published in 2023 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC)
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy

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