Coverage Probability of 3D Mobile UAV Networks

Abstract: In this paper, we consider a network of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) where a given number of UAVs are placed at three-dimensional (3D) locations in a finite circular disk shaped region to serve a reference ground user equipment (UE) located at its center. Herein, a serving UAV is assumed to be located at fixed altitude which communicates with the reference UE. All the other UAVs in the network are designated as interfering UAVs to the UE and are assumed to have 3D mobility. To characterize the 3D UAV movement process, we hereby propose an effective 3D mobility model based on the mixed random waypoint mobility (RWPM) and uniform mobility (UM) models in the vertical and spatial directions. Further, considering the proposed 3D mobility model, we first characterize the interference received at reference UE, and then evaluate its coverage probability under Nakagami-m fading. We quantify the achievable performance gains for the ground UE under various system and channel conditions. Moreover, we corroborate our analytical results through simulations.