We focus on the problem of designing a 5G network architecture to provide coverage in rural areas. The proposed architecture is composed of 5G Base Stations carried by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), and supported by ground sites interconnected through optical fiber links. We also consider the dimensioning of each site in terms of the number of Solar Panels (SPs) and batteries.
Bringing the cellular connectivity in rural zones is a big challenge, due to the large installation costs that are incurred when a legacy cellular network based on fixed Base Stations (BSs) is deployed. To tackle this aspect, we consider an alternative architecture composed of UAV-based BSs to provide cellular coverage, ground sites to connect the UAVs with the rest of the network, Solar Panels (SPs) and batteries to recharge the UAVs and to power the ground sites, and a ring of optical fiber links to connect the installed sites.
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