Aerial Coverage Analysis of Cellular Systems at LTE and mmWave Frequencies Using 3D City Models

Cellular connectivity for UAV systems is interesting because it promises coverage in beyond visual line of sight scenarios. Inter-cell interference has been shown to be the main limiting factor at high altitudes. Using a realistic 3D simulator model, with real base station locations, this study confirms that UAVs at high altitudes suffer from significant interference, resulting in a worse coverage compared to ground users. When replacing the existing base stations by mmWave cells, our results indicate that ground coverage is decreased to only 90%, while UAVs just above rooftop level have a coverage probability of 100%. However, UAVs at higher altitude still suffer from excessive interference. Beamforming has the potential to improve mmWave link budget and to decrease interference and is for this reason a promising technology for ensuring connectivity to aerial users.