Abstract
A measurement setup made of millimeter-wave and ultra wideband transceivers mounted on both a customized UAV and a ground station for full 3D wireless propagation analysis is described in this work. The developed system represents a flexible solution for the characterization of wireless channels and especially of urban propagation, as the drone might be easily located almost anywhere from ground level to the buildings rooftop and beyond. The double directional properties of the channel can be achieved by rotating directive antennas at the link ends. Other possible applications in urban contexts include above ground level propagation, outdoor-to-indoor penetration, line-of-sight to non-line-of-sight transition, scattering from buildings and air-to-ground channel characterization for UAV-assisted wireless communications.
Highlights
N EXT-GENERATION wireless systems will be deployed in a large variety of propagation environments, over multiple frequency bands, and with different antenna configurations
The present study aims at filling up some gaps in the field and, in particular, at describing a flexible setup for double-directional wireless channel characterization, with a focus on two millimeter-wave frequencies, 27 and 38 GHz, which are quite popular for having been recently assigned to 5G systems
Such measurement can be performed with the ground antenna illuminating a fixed “spot” on the building façade, while the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) moves over a semicircle in front of the building keeping the onboard antenna turned in the direction of the spot
Summary
N EXT-GENERATION wireless systems will be deployed in a large variety of propagation environments (from indoor picocells to large cells served by airborne base stations), over multiple frequency bands (from UHF to THz frequencies), and with different antenna configurations (from small antennas for IoT devices to massive arrays). The investigation has been limited to air-to-base-station propagation [9], [16], [17], which is an interesting but less challenging scenario, compared to communications from the UAV to users at street level To the authors’ best knowledge, investigations on the millimeter-wave channel, especially when aimed at its wideband or directional characteristics, have been usually carried out with terrestrial measurement setups [18]–[20], probably due to the problems involved in mounting and operating directive antennas or large MIMO transceivers on the UAV.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
