Elevating the Future of Mobility: UAV-enabled Intelligent Transportation Systems

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) increasingly rely on connectivity for efficient traffic management and enhanced user experience. The existing ITS solutions operate mainly within a 2D domain, thus missing the potential benefits of aerial platforms. This paper envisions 3D ITS by integrating aerial platforms, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), to simultaneously improve network coverage and support multimodal transportation, including Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). Using stochastic models, we investigate how UAV-based Aerial Base Stations (ABSs) can address the limitations of traditional Terrestrial Base Stations (TBSs) by offering superior coverage, particularly in urban environments. Our results demonstrate that ABSs have $\mathbf{1 0 6 . 6 7 \%}$ more coverage area than TBS, higher Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) distribution, and are suitable for high-throughput ITS applications.

I. Introduction

A significant rise is observed this century in urbanization, with more people migrating to urban areas. This influx of new residents increases the size of cities around the globe, resulting in higher transportation demands, traffic congestion, and pollution [1]. In response to these challenges, the mobility sector is undergoing transformative changes. Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is one of the revolutions to address such challenges that includes driverless cars, cooperation between vehicles (e.g., supported by 5G networks), electric cars to reduce pollution, and shared individual transport (e.g., cars, bikes, or scooters). While the ITS represents a significant step forward, an even more revolutionary shift is underway.