Flexible Mobility Models Using Stochastic Differential Equations

We develop a family of tractable models for UAV mobility. Based on a system of coupled stochastic differential equations, the resulting models exhibit realistic trajectories and flexible covariance structures, making them suitable for both small scale and large scale applications. Closed form solutions for steady state and transient position distributions, as well as position covariance, are derived. These results are subsequently used to obtain distance outage probabilities and pathloss. The analytical results allow us to assess the impact of a variety of system parameters related to device control, navigation and position measurement errors. Finally, using measured UAV flight data, we show an excellent goodness of fit between the proposed model and the data.