Analysis of UAV-IRS system with Rician fading

Abstract

Intelligent reflecting surfaces(IRS) have received a lot of attention in next generation communication networks as they provide a cost efficient way to improve the channel conditions. While terrestrial IRSs provide improvements, aerial IRSs where the IRS is mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) provide higher coverage and network reach. In this paper, a system model where the base station(BS) and user equipment(UE) can communicate over the direct BS-UE link, as well as an indirect BS-IRS-UE link is considered, where the IRS is mounted on a UAV. The coverage probability is derived for the system. The coverage range i.e, the height of the UAV beyond which the coverage is zero is also derived. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to verify the theoretical expressions and several inferences are drawn based on the results.