UAV-based Maritime Communications: Relaying to Enhance the Link Quality

TL;DR

This work tackles the challenge of shadowing in maritime communications by employing UAV-mounted decode-and-forward relays to boost link quality for blocked or shadowed ships. It introduces four architectures (NR, Fixed Position UAV Relay, Clustering Based Full-Mobile UAV Relay, and Landing Spot Assisted Semi-Mobile UAV Relay) and analyzes three UAV placement strategies, including a novel landing-spot approach, under single- and multi-victim scenarios. A mathematical relation between data rate and UAV distance is derived, along with a comprehensive energy model that separates communication, hovering, and mobility costs. Simulation results show that CFMR yields the best data-rate performance while LSMR offers the best energy efficiency, highlighting a practical energy–performance trade-off for smart-port deployments and reinforcing UAV relays as a viable component of NTN-enabled maritime networks. The findings have direct implications for designing energy-aware, high-reliability maritime communication systems in line with 6G NTN visions.

Abstract

Providing a stable connectivity in maritime communications is of utmost importance to unleash the full potential of smart ports. Nonetheless, due to the crowded nature of harbor environments, it is likely that some ships are shadowed by others, resulting in reduced received power that subsequently diminishes their data rates-even threatens basic connectivity requirements. Given that uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been regarded as an integral part of future generations of wireless communication networks, they can be employed in maritime communications as well. In this paper, we investigate the use of UAV-mounted relays in order to help mitigate the reduced data rates of blocked links in maritime communications. Various communication architectures are considered based on the positioning mechanism of the UAV; in this regard, fixed, k-means algorithm-based, and landing spot-based positioning approaches are examined. Additionally, since UAVs are predominantly battery-operated, the energy consumption performances of these approaches are also measured. Results reveal that the landing spot-based UAV relay positioning approach finds the best trade-off between the data rate and energy consumption.

Figures (5)

• Figure 1: Illustration of the system scenarios.
• Figure 2: Data rates for single-victim-ship scenario.
• Figure 3: Energy consumption for single-victim-ship scenario.
• Figure 4: Multiple-victim-ship scenario for all communication architectures.
• Figure 5: Energy consumption for multiple-victim-ship scenario.

Theorems & Definitions (2)

• Theorem 1
• proof