Aerial Coverage Analysis for Mobile Network Operator: A Comparison Model of Simulation and UAV Based Measurement in the Different Altitudes

Nowadays Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), especially drones, are used in plenty of missions from human health to entertainment purposes in today’s conditions. Thus, drone control and remote coordination via LTE/5G networks come forward as an important topic from the point of view of mobile network operators. The study conducted herein deals with a remarkable use case in the industry to plan aerial radio coverage for such usages in the network. As known from the technical aspect, the radio channel characterizes the path loss and propagation conditions of cellular communication signals. Due to the three-dimensional movements of UAVs and mobility requirements at high altitudes, cellular radio channels require to exploit the Ground-to-Air Path Loss Model which is different from traditional terrestrial channel models used in the networks. To fill this gap in the literature, the objective of this study is to propose and validate a path loss model for drone communication in a rural area by utilizing aerial measurement, performed by a drone in a fixed flight route at three different altitudes, and simulation-based findings.