TY - JOUR
T1 - Green UAV communications for 6G
T2 - A survey
AU - JIANG, Xu
AU - SHENG, Min
AU - ZHAO, Nan
AU - XING, Chengwen
AU - LU, Weidang
AU - WANG, Xianbin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics
PY - 2022/9
Y1 - 2022/9
N2 - Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have received a wide range of attention for military and commercial applications. Enhanced with communication capability, UAVs are considered to play important roles in the Sixth Generation (6G) networks due to their low cost and flexible deployment. 6G is supposed to be an all-coverage network to provide ubiquitous connections for space, air, ground and underwater. UAVs are able to provide air-borne wireless coverage flexibly, serving as aerial base stations for ground users, as relays to connect isolated nodes, or as mobile users in cellular networks. However, the onboard energy of small UAVs is extremely limited. Thus, UAVs can be only deployed to establish wireless links temporarily. Prolonging the lifetime and developing green UAV communication with low power consumption becomes a critical challenge. In this article, a comprehensive survey on green UAV communications for 6G is carried out. Specifically, the typical UAVs and their energy consumption models are introduced. Then, the typical trends of green UAV communications are provided. In addition, the typical applications of UAVs and their green designs are discussed. Finally, several promising techniques and open research issues are also pointed out.
AB - Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have received a wide range of attention for military and commercial applications. Enhanced with communication capability, UAVs are considered to play important roles in the Sixth Generation (6G) networks due to their low cost and flexible deployment. 6G is supposed to be an all-coverage network to provide ubiquitous connections for space, air, ground and underwater. UAVs are able to provide air-borne wireless coverage flexibly, serving as aerial base stations for ground users, as relays to connect isolated nodes, or as mobile users in cellular networks. However, the onboard energy of small UAVs is extremely limited. Thus, UAVs can be only deployed to establish wireless links temporarily. Prolonging the lifetime and developing green UAV communication with low power consumption becomes a critical challenge. In this article, a comprehensive survey on green UAV communications for 6G is carried out. Specifically, the typical UAVs and their energy consumption models are introduced. Then, the typical trends of green UAV communications are provided. In addition, the typical applications of UAVs and their green designs are discussed. Finally, several promising techniques and open research issues are also pointed out.
KW - Energy efficiency
KW - Green communications
KW - Sixth Generation (6G) networks
KW - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
KW - Wireless networks
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130901963&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cja.2021.04.025
DO - 10.1016/j.cja.2021.04.025
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85130901963
SN - 1000-9361
VL - 35
SP - 19
EP - 34
JO - Chinese Journal of Aeronautics
JF - Chinese Journal of Aeronautics
IS - 9
ER -
