This work proposes a methodology for the energy-and cost-efficient 3-D deployment of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based aerial access point (AAP), that exchanges a given amount of independent data with a set of ground user equipment (UE). Considering a fly-hover-communicate transmission scheme, the most energy-efficient 3-D hovering points (HPs) of the AAP are determined by decoupling the problem in the horizontal and vertical dimensions. First, we derive analytically the optimal hovering altitude that jointly maximizes the downlink and uplink global energy efficiency (GEE) of the system. Next, we propose the multilevel circle packing (MCP) algorithm to determine the minimal number of HPs and their associated horizontal coordinates, such that the AAP covers all the UEs in the given geographical area. A cost analysis is carried out to observe the variation of both fixed and variable costs; these are then minimized by suitably selecting the AAP's battery parameters, like the depth of discharge (DOD), defined as the portion of battery capacity that is consumed during a discharge cycle, and the velocity of the UAV. Simulation results show that: the UAV energy consumption has a significant impact on the 3-D HPs of the AAP; the time spent during the substitution swap of an out of power AAP has a major influence on the operational cost; the cost of the system can be optimized by suitably selecting the onboard battery and the UAV flight parameters.

中文翻译：

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具有交错悬停和飞行功能的经济高效且节能的空中通信网络


这项工作提出了一种基于无人机 (UAV) 的空中接入点 (AAP) 的节能且经济高效的 3D 部署方法，该方法与一组地面用户设备交换给定量的独立数据（ UE）。考虑飞悬停通信传输方案，AAP 的最节能的 3D 悬停点（HP）是通过水平和垂直维度问题的解耦来确定的。首先，我们通过分析推导出最佳悬停高度，该高度共同最大化系统的下行链路和上行链路全局能源效率（GEE）。接下来，我们提出多级循环封装（MCP）算法来确定HP的最小数量及其相关的水平坐标，使得AAP覆盖给定地理区域中的所有UE。进行成本分析以观察固定成本和可变成本的变化；然后，通过适当选择 AAP 的电池参数（例如放电深度 (DOD)，定义为放电周期期间消耗的电池容量部分）和无人机的速度，将这些参数降至最低。仿真结果表明：无人机能耗对AAP的3维HP有显着影响；更换断电 AAP 所花费的时间对运营成本有重大影响；通过适当选择机载电池和无人机飞行参数可以优化系统成本。