6G Communication New Paradigm: The Integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces

TL;DR

This paper surveys the integration of Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRS) with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for 6G networks, focusing on Space-Air-Ground Integrated Networks (SAGINs), Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X), and large-scale IoT. It presents prototypes and enabling technologies, including channel estimation, beamforming, resource allocation, and trajectory optimization, to establish a practical foundation for IRS-UAV systems. The survey further synthesizes solutions addressing energy-constrained, secure, and enhanced communications, and discusses challenges such as pilot contamination, interference management, and IRS deployment23 considerations. Collectively, the work highlights a pathway toward scalable, energy-efficient, and secure IRS-UAV-enabled 6G networks and outlines open questions to guide future research.

Abstract

With the continuous development of Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRSs) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), their combination has become foundational technologies to complement the terrestrial network by providing communication enhancement services for large-scale users. This article provides a comprehensive overview of IRS-assisted UAV communications for 6th-Generation (6G) networks. First, the applications supported by IRS-assisted UAV communications for 6G networks are introduced, and key issues originated from applications supported by IRSs and UAVs for 6G networks are summarized and analyzed. Then, prototypes and main technologies related to the integration of IRSs and UAVs are introduced. Driven by applications and technologies of IRS-assisted UAV communications, existing solutions in the realms of energy-constrained communications, secure communications, and enhanced communications are summarized, and corresponding empirical lessons are provided. Finally, we discuss some research challenges and open issues in IRS-assisted UAV communications, offering directions for the future development.

Figures (12)

• Figure 1: A schematic diagram of IRS structure.
• Figure 2: The structure of this survey.
• Figure 3: A schematic of IRS-assisted UAV communications for SAGINs.
• Figure 4: A schematic of IRS-assisted UAV communications for V2X.
• Figure 5: A schematic of IRS-assisted UAV communications for large-scale IoT.