Power Control in UAV-Supported Ultra Dense Networks: Communications, Caching, and Energy Transfer

By means of network densification, ultra dense networks (UDNs) can efficiently broaden the network coverage and enhance the system throughput. In parallel, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communications and networking have attracted increasing attention recently due to their high agility and numerous applications. In this article, we present a vision of UAV-supported UDNs. First, we present four representative scenarios to show the broad applications of UAV-supported UDNs in communications, caching, and energy transfer. Then we highlight the efficient power control in UAV-supported UDNs by discussing the main design considerations and methods in a comprehensive manner. Furthermore, we demonstrate the performance superiority of UAV-supported UDNs via case study simulations, compared to traditional fixed-infrastructure-based networks. In addition, we discuss the dominating technical challenges and open issues ahead.