Clustered jamming and antenna beam-width fluctuations for UAV-assisted cellular networks

Abstract

Jamming devices have the capability to deliberately disrupt legitimate communications. Clustered jamming pertains to the deployment of jammers that are concentrated within specific clusters to amplify the interference. This paper models the impact of clustered jamming interference on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)-assisted cellular networks, taking into account fluctuations of the 3-dimensional (3D) beam-width of low altitude platform (LAP) antennas. The distribution of UAVs and macro base station (MBS) is modeled by independent 3D and 2D homogeneous Poisson point processes, respectively, while jammers are modeled using an independent Matern cluster process. Antenna 3D beam-width fluctuations are modeled according to Normal distribution. The modeling centers on the probability of association as well as coverage and spectral efficiency for line-of-sight LAP, non-line-of-sight LAP, and MBS links. This modeling investigation is conducted under multiple jamming clusters and the antenna 3D beam-width fluctuations of UAV. Analytical expressions are derived to characterize association, coverage, and SE performance in the context of clustered jamming and UAV beam-width variation. The obtained results indicate that UAV-assisted cellular networks experience a notable decline in the proximity of clustered jammers. Furthermore, this performance degradation is significantly exacerbated when the antenna 3D beam-width exhibits fluctuations. Consequently, to enhance the performance of UAV-assisted cellular networks, it is imperative for system designers to consider the implementation of robust anti-jamming techniques.