Green UAV communications for 6G: A survey

Xu JIANG, Min SHENG, Nan ZHAO*, Chengwen XING, Weidang LU, Xianbin WANG

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

99 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)19-34
Number of pages16
JournalChinese Journal of Aeronautics
Volume35
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2022

Keywords

  • Energy efficiency
  • Green communications
  • Sixth Generation (6G) networks
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
  • Wireless networks

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