Resource Management for Heterogeneous Aerial Networks with Backhaul Constraints

In this paper, we study the coverage maximization problem in the aerial networks. Specifically, we propose a heterogeneous aerial network (HetAN) consisting of a high-altitude base station (HBS) acting as a hub to provide wireless backhaul and multiple low-altitude BSs (LBSs) acting as access points to provide on-demand wireless coverage. Besides, we adopt the non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technique for the uplink transmissions of the terrestrial users so as to support massive connections. Then, we formulate a joint power control, channel assignment, and rate control problem with the objective to maximize user connectivity and network throughput. Based on the graph methods and theoretical analysis, we propose an efficient iterative algorithm to solve the formulated problem. Simulation results demonstrate that our algorithm outperforms the other schemes in terms of connectivity and throughput.