RISe of Flight: RIS-Empowered UAV Communications for Robust and Reliable Air-to-Ground Networks

• Main Authors: Placido Mursia, Francesco Devoti, Vincenzo Sciancalepore, Xavier Costa-Perez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2021-01-01
• Series: IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society
• Subjects: UAV; robust communication; drones; RIS; smart surfaces; optimization
• Online Access: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9467275/

Next generation mobile networks need to expand towards uncharted territories in order to enable the digital transformation of society. In this context, aerial devices such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are expected to address this gap in hard-to-reach locations. However, limited battery-life is an obstacle for the successful spread of such solutions. Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) represent a promising solution addressing this challenge since on-board passive and lightweight controllable devices can efficiently reflect the signal propagation from the ground BSs towards specific target areas. In this paper, we focus on air-to-ground networks where UAVs equipped with RIS can fly over selected areas to provide connectivity. In particular, we study how to optimally compensate <italic>flight effects</italic> and propose <italic>RiFe</italic> as well as its practical implementation <italic>Fair-RiFe</italic> that automatically configure RIS parameters accounting for undesired UAV oscillations due to adverse atmospheric conditions. Our results show that both algorithms provide robustness and reliability while outperforming state-of-the-art solutions in the multiple conditions studied.