Khemiri, Safa, Kishk, Mustafa A. and Alouini, Mohamed-Slim (2025) Exploiting tethered and untethered UAVs: a hybrid aerial communication system. Scientific Reports, 15 (1). ISSN 2045-2322
Preview
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike.
Download (1MB) | Preview
Abstract
Thanks to its flexibility and cost-effectiveness, an unmanned aerial vehicle-mounted base station (UAV-BS) is a promising technology for the upcoming 6G wireless networks. Furthermore, tethered UAVs (T-UAVs), which are powered via a tether by an energy source on the ground, can overcome the limited operation time of UAV-BS networks. Hence, T-UAVs sacrifice their mobility and flexibility to maintain long-lasting flight, unlike untethered UAVs (U-UAVs) that can not fly for more than 30 mins. To exploit the best of each type of UAV, the deployment of both T-UAVs and U-UAVs as aerial base stations is investigated. In this paper, we propose a hybrid system composed of tethered and untethered UAVs. We analyze the system by generating Monte Carlo simulations to find a compromise between the two different types of UAVs. Our results prove that for specific cases, the coexistence of tethered and untethered UAVs improves the performance of the system.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | tethered and untethered UAVs; hybrid aerial communication system; |
| Academic Unit: | Faculty of Science and Engineering > Electronic Engineering |
| Item ID: | 21263 |
| Identification Number: | 10.1038/s41598-025-99761-8 |
| Depositing User: | Mustafa Kishk |
| Date Deposited: | 02 Mar 2026 15:14 |
| Journal or Publication Title: | Scientific Reports |
| Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Related URLs: | |
| Use Licence: | This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year
Share and Export
Share and Export