English

UAV-Enabled Integrated Sensing and Communication: Opportunities and Challenges

Information Theory 2023-05-22 v3 math.IT

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-enabled integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) has attracted growing research interests in the context of sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks, in which UAVs will be exploited as aerial wireless platforms to provide better coverage and enhanced sensing and communication (S&C) services. However, due to the UAVs' size, weight, and power (SWAP) constraints, controllable mobility, and line-of-sight (LoS) air-ground channels, UAV-enabled ISAC introduces both new opportunities and challenges. This article provides an overview of UAV-enabled ISAC, and proposes various solutions for optimizing the S&C performance. In particular, we first introduce UAV-enabled joint S&C, and discuss UAV motion control, wireless resource allocation, and interference management for the cases of single and multiple UAVs. Then, we present two application scenarios for exploiting the synergy between S&C, namely sensing-assisted UAV communication and communication-assisted UAV sensing. Finally, we highlight several interesting research directions to guide and motivate future work.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2206.03408,
  title  = {UAV-Enabled Integrated Sensing and Communication: Opportunities and Challenges},
  author = {Kaitao Meng and Qingqing Wu and Jie Xu and Wen Chen and Zhiyong Feng and Robert Schober and A. Lee Swindlehurst},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2206.03408},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

9 pages, 6 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-24T11:42:22.710Z