Robotic aerial IRS for on-demand ultra energy efficient 6G network coverage enhancement

The integration of intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRSs) with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has the potential to significantly enhance wireless network coverage and overall achievable Quality of Service (QoS). However, the main challenge of UAV assisted IRS is the limited flying/hovering time of UAVs (significantly less than an hour) that massively limits their use in very niche applications and render them unsuitable for wide-scale commercialization. To eliminate this fundamental limitation, this paper presents a novel system, namely robotic aerial IRSs (RA-IRSs), which combine IRS with a robotic anchoring mechanism embedded on a rotary wing UAV, enabling the aerial platform to attach to tall urban street furniture, such as lampposts, and hence switch off their rotors for energy conservation and extended operation beyond conventional UAV-mounted IRSs (U-IRS). The extended operational duration and UAVs’ flexibility allow RA-IRSs to adapt to varying urban traffic patterns, making them suitable for prolonged time deployment in low QoS areas with high traffic demand, a feat not achievable with terrestrial IRS or U-IRS. Our findings show that RA-IRSs suppressing energy consumption by 96% comparing to U-IRSs, and inherent traffic catering capabilities than existing terrestrial IRSs in especially highly heterogeneous environment in terms of spatial traffic demand. These results highlight RA-IRSs’ adaptability and potential in improving future 6G urban network coverage and QoS.