Slicing-Aware Aerial Networks for Integrated Sensing and Communication: 3D Placement and Adaptive Allocation of Resources

Integration of sensing and communication (ISAC) is pivotal for realizing the full spectrum of 6G networks, where aerial networks composed of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) emerge as significant enhancers by establishing line-of-sight connections and increasing the coverage of terrestrial networks. Although network slicing can cater to diverse ISAC applications, strategies specifically for ISAC remain unexplored. This article proposes a lightweight scheme for network slicing in an aerial network with ISAC capability to maximize the service-level agreement (SLA) satisfaction ratio (SSR) by jointly optimizing the 3D placement and bandwidth resource allocation of UAVs. The scheme determines the 3D positions of the UAVs based on the locations of users served by high-priority slices and the SSRs of all slice requests. Then the scheme uses a minimum-weight matching algorithm for energy-efficient UAV path planning. Extensive simulations reveal our proposed scheme’s efficiencies in terms of resource allocation, cost savings, and energy savings.