Towards Realistic Modelling of Drone‐based Cellular Network Coverage

This chapter addresses the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) deployment problem by analyzing the trade‐offs between key system design parameters such as height, antenna beamwidth, and number of UAVs. By leveraging a more realistic model compared to prior studies on the topic, the analysis reveals several new insights and trade‐offs between the design parameters that remain unexplored in existing studies. An antenna pattern that approximates the actual antenna pattern accurately and realistically is required to reveal more insights in order to properly dimension and optimize UAV‐based networks. The chapter addresses this problem by using a 3GPP defined 3D parabolic antenna pattern whose gain is realistically dependent on not only beamwidth but also the three‐dimensional elevation angle. Equations for coverage probability and the probability density functions of received signal strength as a function of key UAV parameters are derived.