Intelligent Reflecting Surface - aided UAV Communications:A survey and Research Opportunities

The sixth-generation (6G) wireless communication network needs to achieve very high data rates, extremely low latency, high reliability, fully connected coverage, and energy efficiency. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are considered as promising new paradigm to the future of communications. However, limited battery capacity is a barrier to the effective spread of such solutions. Intelligent reflective surfaces (IRSs) that can reconFigure their reflection properties and electromagnetic absorption in real-time offer unparalleled opportunities to improve the wireless communication experience in difficult environments. In this respect, we highlight various use cases, research opportunities, and challenges for optimizing and designing wireless networks. Specifically, IRS carried by UAVs can meet important objectives in terms of future communications networks.

I. Introduction

Intelligent reflective surface (IRS), a recently discovered artificial material with electromagnetic properties for example refraction, reflection, absorption, and phase, that can be electronically configured in real-time as shown in Fig. 1. These surfaces can be produced at a lower cost, allowing them to be deployed universally and providing the ability to control the wireless communication multipath environment both outdoors and indoors[1]. Therefore, there’s a new way whereby IRS reveals the fields of wireless communications studies of which the attention focuses on addressing multipaths to designing it. Researchers lately investigated that IRS-aided solutions may greatly improve present vehicular and mobility networks’ energy efficiency capacity, and coverage, [2], [3], [4], [5],and [6].