Multi-UAV cooperative channel characterization of emergency communications

To support the development of multiple-unmanned aerial vehicle (multi-UAV) cooperation in emergency communications, an in-depth analysis of multi-UAV cooperative channel statistical properties is conducted in this paper. Based on the wireless channel simulation software, i.e., Wireless InSite, the ray-tracing technology based multi-UAV cooperative communication channel data in the urban earthquake rescue environment is collected. As a consequence, an accurate channel dataset for multi-UAV cooperative emergency communications is established, which provides a solid data foundation for unveiling the multi-UAV cooperative channel statistical properties. Based on the constructed dataset, the multi-UAV cooperative emergency communication channel statistical properties are derived and thoroughly simulated, including cooperative time auto-correlation function (TACF), cooperative space cross-correlation function (SCCF), cooperative Doppler power spectral density (DPSD), cooperative time stationary interval, and singular value spread (SVS). According to the derived and simulated multi-UAV co-operative emergency communication channel statistical properties, some conclusions can be drawn. Specifically, compared to scenarios without earthquakes, cooperative SCCFs between the channels related to different antennas in earthquake scenarios are smaller. Channels under earthquake scenarios exhibit smaller SVS than the scenarios without earthquakes.