The large-scale and ever-growing use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in a wide range of applications is foreseen to be a major part of beyond 5G and 6G wireless networks in the next decade. The effective support of such massive deployment of UAVs requires offering reliable, secure, and cost-effective wireless connectivity. In this regard, cellular networks play essential roles in serving UAVs acting as flying user equipments. While the cellular networks provide promising connectivity solutions for UAVs, enabling robust UAV operations faces several challenges. In this paper, an overview of key barriers and design considerations of widespread commercial use of flying UAVs are presented along with their potential solutions. In addition, we discuss how cellular networks can support UAVs by relying on their advanced features, network intelligence, key enabling technologies for beyond 5G and 6G, and exploiting new tools from machine learning. Finally, we shed light on offering wireless services to high altitudes and the integration of non-terrestrial networks with terrestrial networks towards limitless connectivity in 6G.
翻译:预计在今后十年中,大规模和日益扩大使用无人驾驶航空器(无人驾驶航空器)的广泛应用将是超过5G和6G无线网络的一个主要部分,有效支持这种大规模部署无人驾驶航空器需要提供可靠、安全和成本效益高的无线连接,在这方面,蜂窝网络在为无人驾驶航空器提供作为飞行用户设备服务方面发挥着至关重要的作用;蜂窝网络为无人驾驶航空器提供了有希望的连接解决方案,使强有力的无人驾驶航空器行动得以开展,但面临若干挑战;本文件概述了无人驾驶航空器广泛商业使用的关键障碍和设计考虑及其潜在解决办法;此外,我们讨论了移动电话如何依靠先进的功能、网络情报、5G和6G的关键赋能技术支持无人驾驶航空器,并利用机器学习的新技术。最后,我们阐述了提供高空无线服务以及将非地网络与地面网络整合,以实现6G无限的无限制连接。