Prototyping directional UAV-based wireless access and backhaul systems

Providing sufficient mobile coverage during mass public events or critical situations is a highly challenging task for the network operators. To fulfill the extreme capacity and coverage demands within a limited area, several augmenting solutions might be used. Among them, novel technologies like a fleet of compact base stations mounted on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are gaining momentum because of their time- and cost- efficient deployment. Despite the fact that the concept of aerial wireless access networks has been investigated recently in many research studies, there are still numerous practical aspects that require further understanding and extensive evaluation. Taking this as a motivation, in this paper, we develop the concept of continuous wireless coverage provisioning by the means of UAVs and assess its usability in mass scenarios with thousands of users. With our system-level simulations as well as a measurement campaign, we take into account a set of important parameters including weather conditions, UAV speed, weight, power consumption, and millimeter- wave (mmWave) antenna configuration. As a result, we provide more realistic data about the performance of the access and backhaul links together with the practical lessons learned about the design and real-world applicability of the UAV-enabled wireless access networks.