Coverage And Rate of VHETNET With Clustered Users for Disaster Recovery

Abstract

Most of the current heterogeneous networks rely on ground or Terrestrial Base Stations (TBSs) for their implementation and operation. However, such implementations are very prone to communication challenges which can be caused by common disasters such as floods or earthquakes. A great deal of research has been done to find solutions to these problems, the most common remedy being the use of cellular-enabled drones as aerial base stations (ABSs) thus the term Vertical Heterogeneous Networks (VHetNets) but this has left gaps in quantifiable communication metrics such as coverage and rate. In order to address some of these gaps, we have developed an analytical framework that analyzes the coverage and rate of these VHetNets in a post disaster scenario so as to achieve an accepted quality of service (QoS). Using knowledge of probability theory and stochastic geometry, we first derived analytical expressions for the time-varying coverage and rate for both the ABSs, which we then prove by monte-carlo simulations carried out in Matlab and Octave software applications. Our framework considers two user-service models for mobile ABSs moving at constant speeds, the first service model considers the serving ABS moving independently to the user’s location whereas the second service model considers the serving ABS maintaining a minimum distance as projected from the user’s location. We further develop an interactive tool that computes different metrics such as height, coverage radius and elevation angle for Air-to-Ground (A2G) communication in order to visualize optimal deployment of the ABSs. This project aims at improving the coverage and achievable data rate in VHetNets, as well as providing optimum deployment of the ABSs in cases of disaster recovery. The developed framework can be an essential tool for the implementation for future networks like 6G and beyond.