The rapid growth of consumer unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is creating promising new business opportunities for cellular operators. On the one hand, UAVs can be connected to cellular networks as new types of user equipment, therefore generating significant revenues for the operators that can guarantee their stringent service requirements. On the other hand, UAVs offer the unprecedented opportunity to realize UAV-mounted flying base stations (BSs) that can dynamically reposition themselves to boost coverage, spectral efficiency, and user quality of experience. Indeed, the standardization bodies are currently exploring possibilities for serving commercial UAVs with cellular networks. Industries are beginning to trial early prototypes of flying BSs or user equipments, while academia is in full swing researching mathematical and algorithmic solutions to address interesting new problems arising from flying nodes in cellular networks. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey of all of these developments promoting smooth integration of UAVs into cellular networks. Specifically, we survey: 1) the types of consumer UAVs currently available off-the-shelf; 2) the interference issues and potential solutions addressed by standardization bodies for serving aerial users with the existing terrestrial BSs; 3) the challenges and opportunities for assisting cellular communications with UAV-based flying relays and BSs; 4) the ongoing prototyping and test bed activities; 5) the new regulations being developed to manage the commercial use of UAVs; and 6) the cyber-physical security of UAV-assisted cellular communications.

中文翻译：

---

无人机蜂窝通信调查：实践方面、标准化进展、监管和安全挑战

消费类无人机 (UAV) 的快速增长为蜂窝运营商创造了充满希望的新商机。一方面，无人机可以作为新型用户设备接入蜂窝网络，从而为运营商带来可观的收入，保证其严格的服务要求。另一方面，无人机为实现无人机安装的飞行基站 (BS) 提供了前所未有的机会，该基站可以动态重新定位以提高覆盖范围、频谱效率和用户体验质量。事实上，标准化机构目前正在探索使用蜂窝网络为商用无人机提供服务的可能性。工业界开始试验飞行基站或用户设备的早期原型，而学术界正在全面研究数学和算法解决方案，以解决蜂窝网络中飞行节点引起的有趣新问题。在本文中，我们对促进无人机顺利集成到蜂窝网络的所有这些发展进行了全面调查。具体而言，我们调查了：1）目前可用的现成消费级无人机类型；2) 标准化机构针对现有地面基站服务空中用户的干扰问题和可能的解决方案；3) 以无人机为基础的飞行中继和基站辅助蜂窝通信的挑战和机遇；4) 正在进行的原型设计和试验台活动；5) 正在制定的管理无人机商业使用的新法规；6) 无人机辅助蜂窝通信的网络物理安全。