UAV-aided maritime communication over the Pacific Ocean using the elevated duct toward future wireless networks

Area of Science:

• Wireless Communication
• Atmospheric Science
• Information Theory

Background:

• Traditional maritime communication faces limitations due to geographical and meteorological factors.
• Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-aided communication offers flexible accessibility and wide-area coverage.
• Elevated ducts, influenced by trade winds, frequently occur over the northern Pacific Ocean with high probability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate a UAV-aided wireless communication system utilizing elevated ducts for maritime applications.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of GHz-bandwidth microwave transmission within these elevated ducts.
• To identify optimal modulation schemes for maritime UAV communication.

Main Methods:

• System modeling of UAV-aided wireless communication within elevated ducts.
• Analysis of microwave transmission link feasibility and path loss budget.
• Comparative evaluation of six digital modulation schemes, including QPSK.

Main Results:

• Confirmed feasibility of over-horizontal, GHz-bandwidth microwave transmission within elevated ducts.
• Calculated a path loss budget of 189 dB, enabling reception of 1 GHz-bandwidth signals.
• Identified QPSK as a practical modulation scheme balancing bandwidth efficiency and hardware complexity.

Conclusions:

• UAV-aided communication systems using elevated ducts provide efficient, high-capacity maritime communication with minimal path loss.
• This technology is a key enabler for future 6G networks, offering long-range, high-speed data links over oceans.
• The system overcomes limitations of traditional maritime communication, establishing a robust platform for oceanic wireless connectivity.