UAV Flight Path Planning for Continuous Cellular Coverage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cellular networks lack a fast handover solution for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which hinders the provision of continuous network services, impacting their mobility and application range.
Innovation Solution
A method and device for determining a flight path of UAVs, where an initial flight path is adjusted by acquiring and analyzing coverage and load information of accessible base stations to identify serviceable stations, allowing for a target flight path that ensures continuous cellular network services, even if the initial path does not provide them.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If the initial flight path is configured by the unmanned aerial vehicle management platform, then the flight path can be determined in advance, but the cellular network may be unable to provide continuous network services due to base station coverage limitations
Solution Approach 1:
The core network device performs preliminary evaluation of the initial flight path by determining the first group of accessible base stations in advance, evaluating whether they can provide continuous network services, and adjusting to determine a target flight path before the UAV actually flies, ensuring network service continuity is guaranteed beforehand
Solution Approach 2:
The core network device receives feedback information from base stations including coverage areas and load information, uses this feedback to evaluate whether the initial flight path can provide continuous network services, and adjusts the flight path based on this feedback to ensure reliable network connectivity
2Reliability
If the cellular network evaluates and adjusts the flight path to ensure continuous network services, then network service reliability is improved, but the system complexity increases due to additional evaluation and adjustment mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The core network device acts as an intermediary between the unmanned aerial vehicle management platform and the base stations, receiving flight path information, evaluating base station coverage and load, and returning adjusted target flight paths, thereby centralizing the complexity in a dedicated component rather than distributing it across multiple systems
Solution Approach 2:
The core network device performs multiple functions including receiving initial flight paths, determining accessible base stations, evaluating coverage continuity, and adjusting flight paths, consolidating these diverse functions into a single multi-functional component to manage system complexity
Data Source
AI summary
A method for determining a flight path of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes: acquiring an initial flight path configured by a management platform; determining, based on the initial flight path, a first group of accessible base stations of the UAV on the initial flight path capable to be accessed when the UAV flies based on the initial flight path; if the first group cannot provide continuous cellular network services for the UAV, acquiring a second group of accessible base stations capable of providing continuous cellular network services for the UAV; and determining the flight path corresponding to the second group as a target flight path. As such, the initial flight path of the UAV can be reasonably adjusted upon that the core network device cannot provide satisfactory network services for the UAV flying according to the initial flight path, to enable the cellular network to provide satisfactory network services for the UAV.