Joint Aerial-Terrestrial Resource Management in UAV-Aided Mobile Radio Networks

This article addresses the issue of joint aerial-terrestrial resource management in mobile radio networks supported by a UAV operating as network node and discusses the potential of true integration between the terrestrial and UAV components of the network. A simulation campaign shows that, by properly optimizing the system parameters related to the UAV flight, a single UAV can bring significant improvement in network throughput for a wide service area. The use of a joint radio resource management approach, where the UAV and terrestrial base stations operate in a coordinated manner, brings significant advantages with respect to different algorithms.