Quality aware aerial-to-ground 5G cells through open-source software

This paper investigates the advantages and design challenges of leveraging Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to deploy 4G/5G femto- and pico-cells to provide quality-aware user service and improve network performance. In order to do so, we combine UAVs dashing flight capabilities with Software-defined Radios (SDRs) flexibility and devise the concept of self-optimizing UAV Base Stations (UABSs). The proposed framework allows for on-the-fly drone repositioning based on rigorous optimization techniques using real-time network metrics to enhance users' service. This makes it possible to offload the traditional cellular infrastructure, or to mend its temporary failure, by deploying UABSs in areas of interest. Cellular connectivity is, then, provided to mobile subscribers through the LTE-compliant OpenAirInterface software interfaced with the on-drone SDR. We first describe the UABS design challenges and approaches. Then, we give details on the devised optimization algorithm and its main requirements. Finally, we illustrate a prototype implementation of the proposed UABS that leverages an SDR device and a PX4 flight controller, and test its effectiveness. Experimental results demonstrate that UABSs are able to autonomously reposition themselves based on cellular network metrics and to improve network performance.