The Rise of UAV Fleet Technologies for Emergency Wireless Communications in Harsh Environments

For unforeseen emergencies, such as natural disasters and pandemic events, it is highly demanded to cope with the explosive growth of mobile data traffic in extremely critical environments. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fleet is an effective way to facilitate the emergency wireless communication network (EcoNet). In this article, a multi-tier heterogeneous UAV network (MuHun), with different UAV fleets at different altitudes, is proposed to flexibly serve various emergencies. We refresh the key performance indicators of full coverage, network capacity, low latency, and energy efficiency in harsh environments. Then we present the special challenges regarding the shadowing-dominated complex channel model, energy supply limited short endurance, various communication mechanisms' coexistence, and a communication island for underground users in UAV-based EcoNet, followed by the MuHun-based EcoNet architecture and its advantages. Furthermore, some potential solutions such as the new hybrid-channel adapted resource allocation, reconfigurable intelligent surface assisted UAV communications, competitive heterogenous networks, and magnetic induction based air-to-ground/underground communications are discussed to effectively achieve full coverage, high capacity, high energy efficiency, and diverse qualities of services for EcoNets in harsh environments.