Improvement in Reverse Link Capacity and Handoff for a UAV in a CDMA Cellular Network using Directional Beampattern

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) are getting considerable attention in various commercial applications including aerial package delivery system. This paper investigates the impact of UAV on the commercial cellular network that provides the required wireless connectivity to it. The paper proposes use of directional radiation pattern at both the BTS or Node-B of a CDMA cellular network and the UAV and presents performance evaluation of the proposed system and improvement over a conventional system comprising omnidirectional radiation. Significant amount of interference reduction and capacity enhancement over the conventional system are reported. Additionally, handoff (HO) performance of the proposed system is investigated, and it is shown that a reduction of the number of occurrence of HO from 50% to 75% can be achieved.