6G Communication New Paradigm: The Integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces
Authors: Zhaolong Ning, Tengfeng Li, Yu Wu, Xiaojie Wang, Qingqing Wu, Fei Richard Yu, Song Guo
Abstract: With the continuous development of Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRSs) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), their combination has become foundational technologies to complement the terrestrial network by providing communication enhancement services for large-scale users. This article provides a comprehensive overview of IRS-assisted UAV communications for 6th-Generation (6G) networks. First, the applications supported by IRS-assisted UAV communications for 6G networks are introduced, and key issues originated from applications supported by IRSs and UAVs for 6G networks are summarized and analyzed. Then, prototypes and main technologies related to the integration of IRSs and UAVs are introduced. Driven by applications and technologies of IRS-assisted UAV communications, existing solutions in the realms of energy-constrained communications, secure communications, and enhanced communications are summarized, and corresponding empirical lessons are provided. Finally, we discuss some research challenges and open issues in IRS-assisted UAV communications, offering directions for the future development.
Explore the paper tree
Click on the tree nodes to be redirected to a given paper and access their summaries and virtual assistant
Look for similar papers (in beta version)
We compare the title and abstract with papers indexed in our database. For arXiv papers, we search within the same category; for DOI and other sources, we search across sources and subjects. You can rerun the search as our database grows.