A Framework for 5G Networks with In-Band Full-Duplex Enabled Drone-Mounted Base-Stations

Drone-mounted base-stations (DBSs) characterized by high mobility and low cost intrinsic attributes can be deployed to enhance the network capacity in order to relieve the mismatch between the large amount of user demands and the limited wireless resources. In this article, we propose a DBS-assisted in-band full-duplex (IBFD) HetNet framework for 5G networks. We then discuss the problem of DBS-assisted heterogeneous networks (DBSH) with IBFD communications, which can be decomposed into three sub-problems: the DBS placement problem, the UE assignment problem, and the bandwidth and power allocation problem (including bandwidth and power allocation for backhaul links and access links). We propose a greedy algorithm, named DBSH-IBFD, to solve three sub-problems as follows: 1) All DBSs are deployed one by one. The horizontal location of a DBS is determined by the area with the maximum aggregated weight (the weight is defined by the number, the location, and SINR of a UE) and then the altitude of a DBS is determined by which the maximum network throughput is achieved. 2) Each UE is associated with the BS that provides the best signal-to-noise-ratio. 3) The power and bandwidth of the MBS are allocated to all DBSs based on the workload, and all BSs allocate power and bandwidth to their associated UEs. DBSH-IBFD is demonstrated to achieve better throughput performance than benchmark algorithms, and IBFD-enabled DBSs are the most spectrum efficient as compared to the MBS and HD-enabled DBSs.