Circuits and Systems Design for UAV Swarm Enabled Communications

无人驾驶飞行器(UAV)最近被提出作为移动无线基础设施的解决方案。大多数基于无人机的通信研究都将单个无人机或多个无人机视为独立实体。该项目旨在探索在新兴的雾无线电接入网络(FOG-RAN)内利用多个协调无人机(也称为无人机群)的好处。通过利用带有机载无线电和处理器的无人机的移动性以及集群内的分布式处理，拟议的系统旨在实现物联网(IoT)和多输入多输出(MIMO)无线接入的各种按需应用，并提高能效和频谱效率。由于其易于部署，无人机群辅助Fog-RAN可以服务于贫困社区，并在紧急或其他事件驱动的应用中适应容量需求的波动。该项目解决了在无人机群通信中出现的电路和系统中的一组独特挑战：i)群阵列同步和回程，ii)边缘设备上的分布式处理，以及iii)优化链路预算和分布式MIMO信道容量的无人机群布置。将探索两种不同的群体系统：1)弱协调群体，具有轻群同步和简单的协调协议；2)强协调群体，需要紧同步和分布式阵列处理。对于弱协调的群体、低复杂度的同步和协调算法，将设计低功耗的射频电路和基带处理，每个无线电中只有一个天线。对于强协调群，将设计一种用于频率、相位和时间同步的混合射频和基带处理，以及用于无人机群内分布式MIMO组合的新型阵列信号处理，以实现相干传输。将开发和分析无人机群布置以实现最优容量和射程的框架，以针对通道、位置和驱动的不确定性具有鲁棒性。一个使用现成无人机的概念验证原型和一个带有定制射频组件的无线电试验台将被建造并在空中进行测试。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been recently proposed as a solution for mobile wireless infrastructure. Majority of research on UAV-based communications considers either a single UAV or multiple UAVs as independent entities. This project aims to explore the benefits of utilizing multiple coordinated UAVs, also known as the UAV Swarm, within the emerging fog radio access networks (Fog-RAN). By leveraging the mobility of UAVs with on-board radios and processor, and the distributed processing within the swarm, the proposed system aims to enable various on-demand applications of internet-of-things (IoT) and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless access with improved energy efficiency and spectral efficiency. Due to its ease of deployment, the UAV swarm assisted Fog-RAN can serve underprivileged communities and accommodate fluctuations in capacity demands during emergency or other event-driven applications.This project addresses a set of unique challenges in circuits and systems arising in UAV swarm communications: i) swarm array synchronization and backhaul, ii) distributed processing on the edge devices, and iii) UAV swarm placement for optimized link budget and distributed MIMO channel capacity. Two different swarm systems will be explored: 1) weakly coordinated swarm with light swarm synchronization and simple coordination protocol, and 2) strongly coordinated swarm that requires tight synchronization and distributed array processing. For weakly coordinated swarm, low-complexity synchronization and coordination algorithms, low-power RF circuits and baseband processing, with only a single antenna in each radio, will be designed. For strongly coordinated swarm, a hybrid RF and base-band processing for frequency, phase, and time synchronization, and novel array signal processing for distributed MIMO combining within UAV swarm, will be designed to enable coherent transmission. The framework for UAV swarm placement to achieve optimal capacity and range will be developed and analyzed for robustness against channel, location, and actuation uncertainties. A proof-of-concept prototype using off-the-shelf UAVs and a radio testbed with customized RF components will be built and tested in the air.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.