Systems, devices, and methods for millimeter wave communication for unmanned aerial vehicles
View Patent ↗Systems, devices, and methods are described for controlling, and communicating with, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over a millimeter wave (mmWave) communication network established between a base station and the UAVs. A communication system may include one or more unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The communication system may further include one or more base stations including millimeter wave (mmWave) antennas configured to generate control signals to the one or more UAVs over an mmWave communication network.
1. A communication system, comprising:
a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); and
one or more base stations including:
a first number of millimeter wave (mmWave) antennas configured to generate and wirelessly transmit control signals in a first direction to one or more UAVs of the plurality of UAVs over a mmWave communication network, wherein the control signals are at least partially based on a base station density; and
a second number of antennas configured to generate and transmit signals in a second direction to land-based communication devices;
wherein at least one base station of the one or more base stations is configured to control at least two UAVs of the plurality of UAVs via a single mmWave beam;
wherein the one or more base stations are configured to select a UAV of the plurality of UAVs for non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) communication based on ray tracing simulations of the plurality of UAVs;
wherein the plurality of UAVs include a primary UAV and at least one secondary UAV, wherein the primary UAV is dynamically selected based on one or more conditions of the communication system;
wherein at least one of a base station of the one or more base stations or at least one UAV of the plurality of UAVs is configured to transmit artificial noise with a confidential message and control power leakage in a direction of a malicious receiver.
2. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more base stations are configured to control the first number of mmWave antennas to perform beamforming when generating the control signals.
3. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more base stations are configured to receive mmWave communications from the one or more UAVs.
4. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more base stations are configured to transmit the control signals as one of rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) signals and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) mmWave signals when communicating with a number of UAVs of the one or more UAVs.
5. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the second number of antennas are configured to communicate with the land-based communication devices over a different radio-frequency (RF) network.
6. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the first number of mmWave antennas are dedicated for UAVs including the plurality of UAVs.
7. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of UAVs further comprise at least one additional UAV, wherein the at least one additional UAV is configured to communicate with the one or more base stations via at least one of the primary UAV and the at least one secondary UAV.
8. An unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising:
a processor and transmitter configured to:
wirelessly communicate with a base station over a millimeter wave (mmWave) network; and
directly communicate with other unmanned aerial vehicles via the mmWave network;
wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is configured to:
be dynamically selected and operate as a primary UAV based on one or more conditions of the mmWave network;
be dynamically selected and operate as a secondary UAV based on the one or more conditions of the mmWave network; and
transmit artificial noise with a confidential message and control power leakage in a direction of a malicious receiver.
9. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the processor and transmitter are further configured to transmit at least one of video data and telemetry data to the base station via the mmWave network.
10. A method of operating a base station, the method comprising:
establishing a millimeter wave (mmWave) communication link with a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs);
selecting, via the base station, a UAV of the plurality of UAVs for non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) communication based on ray tracing simulations of the plurality of UAVs;
wirelessly transmitting a single mmWave beam to at least two UAVs of the plurality of UAVs over the mmWave communication link to control operation of each of the at least two UAVs;
at least one of wirelessly transmitting artificial noise with the single mmWave beam and controlling power leakage in a desired direction;
dynamically selecting one UAV of the plurality of UAVs as a primary UAV based on one or more conditions of an mmWave communication network including the base station and the plurality of UAVs; and
dynamically selecting another UAV of the plurality of UAVs as a secondary UAV based on the one or more conditions of the mmWave communication network.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising receiving data from at least one UAV of the plurality of UAVs at the base station.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein receiving data comprises receiving at least one of video and telemetry data from the at least one UAV at the base station.
13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising wirelessly transmitting a number of control signals to the plurality of UAVs over respective mmWave communication links to control operation of each UAV of the plurality of UAVs.
14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising receiving data from the plurality of UAVs at the base station, the data comprising at least one of video data and telemetry data.
15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising wirelessly transmitting one or more control signals to an additional UAV via at least one of the primary UAV or a secondary UAV.
16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising dynamically selecting another UAV of the plurality of UAVs as a secondary UAV based on one or more conditions of the mmWave communication network.
17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising establishing a radio-frequency (RF) communication link with at least one land-based communication device.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein establishing the mmWave communication link with the plurality of UAVs comprises establishing the mmWave communication link via one or more antennas dedicated to an mmWave communication network, and wherein establishing the RF communication link with the at least one land-based communication device comprises establishing the RF communication link via one or more other antennas dedicated to an RF communication network.
19. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the UAV is configured to initiate a repositioning process to reposition one or more other UAVs while operating as the primary UAV.