An efficient SC-FDM modulation technique for a UAV communication link

Abstract

Since the communication link of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and its reliability evaluation represent an arduous field, we have concentrated our work on this topic. The demand regarding the validity and reliability of the communication and data link of UAV is much higher since the environment of the modern battlefield is becoming more and more complex. Therefore, the communication channel between the vehicle and ground control station (GCS) should be secure and provide an efficient data link. In addition, similar to other types of communications, the data link of a UAV has several requirements such as long-range operation, high efficiency, reliability, and low latency. In order to achieve an efficient data link, we need to adopt a highly efficient modulation technique, which leads to an increase in the flight time of the UAV, data transmission rate, and the reliability of the communication link. For this purpose, we have investigated the single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) modulation technique for a UAV communication system. The results obtained from the comparative study demonstrate that SC-FDM has better performance than the currently used modulation technique for a UAV communication link. We expect that our proposed approach can be a remarkable framework that will help drone manufacturers to establish an efficient UAV communication link and extend the flight duration of drones, especially those being used for search and rescue operations, military tasks, and delivery services.