This article explores cooperative communications for drone swarms which become an essential part of space-air-ground integrated networks (SAGINs), since drones (also called unmanned aerial vehicles) have the advantage of fast and flexible deployment. However, the rapid spread of drone applications leads to a dramatic increase in the spectrum and energy demand for drone communications, resulting in a shortage of spectrum and energy resources. Moreover, the inherent broadcast nature of radio propagation makes the air interface of drone communications extremely vulnerable to jamming and eavesdropping attacks, especially considering the fact that an unknown drone may sneak into a swarm for the purpose of intentionally interfering with or tapping confidential transmissions of the legitimate drones. As a consequence, a cooperative networking architecture is proposed for drone-swarm-aided SAGINs. A heterogeneous spectrum sharing mechanism is presented for drone communications to alleviate the spectrum shortage by dynamically identifying and accessing idle spectrum resources with the aid of spectrum sensing and inference. Physical-layer security is also examined for cooperative drone communications with limited energy supply. Finally, a wide range of potential applications of drone communications are pointed out, including emergency wireless networks, beyond 5G and 6G systems, and smart grid.

中文翻译：

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天地一体化网络的无人机协作通信


本文探讨了无人机群的协作通信，由于无人机（也称为无人驾驶飞行器）具有快速、灵活部署的优势，无人机群已成为空地一体化网络（SAGIN）的重要组成部分。然而，无人机应用的快速普及导致无人机通信的频谱和能源需求急剧增加，导致频谱和能源资源短缺。此外，无线电传播固有的广播性质使得无人机通信的空中接口极易受到干扰和窃听攻击，特别是考虑到未知无人机可能潜入蜂群，故意干扰或窃听无人机的机密传输。合法的无人机。因此，为无人机群辅助的 SAGIN 提出了一种协作网络架构。提出了一种用于无人机通信的异构频谱共享机制，通过借助频谱感知和推理动态识别和访问空闲频谱资源，以缓解频谱短缺。还检查了能源供应有限的协作无人机通信的物理层安全性。最后，指出了无人机通信的广泛潜在应用，包括应急无线网络、超越 5G 和 6G 系统以及智能电网。