Dynamic Spectrum Management with Network Function Virtualization for UAV Communication

Rapid increases in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) applications are attributed to severe spectrum collision issues, especially when UAVs operate in spectrum scarce environments, such as urban areas. Dynamic air-to-ground (A2G) link solutions can mitigate this issue by utilizing programmable communication hardware in the air and real-time assignment of spectrum resources to achieve high-throughput and low-latency connectivity between UAVs and operators. To mitigate the high-computation issue among ground control station (GCS) networks and provide a broad communication coverage for large number of UAVs, we propose an advanced UAV A2G communication solution integrated with the dynamic spectrum management (DSM) and network function virtualization (NFV) technology to serve urban operations. The edge-cutting UAV communication technologies are surveyed. The proposed scheme is discussed in terms of the high-level system architecture, virtual network architecture, specific virtual functions (SVFs), and affiliated operation support databases. Some major research challenges are highlighted and the possible directions of future research are identified.