UAV Communications: Spectral Requirements, MAV and SUAV Channel Modeling, OFDM Waveform Parameters, Performance and Spectrum Management

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are expected to be deployed both by government and industry. Rules for integrating commercial UAVs into a nation's airspace still need to be defined, safety being the main concern. As part of this thesis, the communication needs of UAVs as important requirement for UAV integration into the national airspace is considered. Motivated by recent prediction of UAV quantities, revealing the importance of Micro UAVs (MAV) and Small UAVs (SUAV), the thesis determines spectral requirements for control and non-payload communication (CNPC). We show that spectral efficiency, particularly in the downlink, is critical to the large-scale deployment of UAVs. Due to the limited range of small SUAV and MAV systems, communication between air and ground elements of these UAVs is established through radio Line-of-Sight (LoS) links. Ultimately, efficient LoS UAV systems are based on a better understanding of channels in the downlink, i.e. air-to-ground (A2G) channels, and also on efficient waveform as well as spectrum management implementation. Because of limited research in wideband aeronautical channel modeling, we have derived an A2G channel prototype applicable to SUAV and MAV. As part of the research at Wire- less@VT in designing and prototyping Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) waveforms, this thesis derives the optimal parameters for SUAV and MAV A2G channels. Finally, the thesis discusses concepts that relate flight route with spectrum management as well as opportunities for a more dynamic spectrum allocation for UAV communication systems.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Electrical Engineering

Department dc:contributor.department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Kakar, Jaber Ahmad

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Marojevic, Vuk

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Dietrich, Carl B.
• Beex, Aloysius A.

• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
• OFDM
• Spectrum Management
• Air-to-Ground Channels

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:5764

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/53512