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HEStaff exchange2023–2027

UNITE · Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Non-Terrestrial Communications and Sensing

Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2023-12-01 → 2027-11-30
EU contribution
€496,800
Participants
15
Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-SE

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Non-Terrestrial Communications and Sensing

Europe is investing heavily in next-generation communication systems (6G) to ensure secure, resilient, and sustainable connectivity for all citizens. However, traditional terrestrial networks alone cannot guarantee reliable coverage in rural, remote, maritime, or disastered areas. At the same time, new services such as environmental monitoring, smart mobility, emergency response, and immersive applications require not only communication but also advanced sensing capabilities. The UNITE project addresses these challenges by exploring how unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), in combination with satellites, can support and integrate advanced non-terrestrial communications (NTC) and non-terrestrial sensing (NTS) in 6G, to reduce digital inequality, increase network flexibility and robustness, and improve situational awareness in critical scenarios. In this context, the objectives of the UNITE project are to: - Design intelligent, data-driven, and adaptive UAV deployment strategies based on realistic spatial/temporal traffic patterns and environmental information. - Build new realistic and robust channel, interference, and sensing models to describe the 3D environment for both NTC and NTS; - Develop efficient data transmission strategies (for NTC) to ensure the reliable delivery of information, and the accurate and timely acquisition of network perception (for NTS) using new channel models, metasurface/RIS systems, and computer vision. - Develop new algorithms and signal-processing techniques to integrate NTC and NTS, using dual-functional waveforms and UAV wireless charging. - Design effective sensing-based communications using UAVs for integrated NTC and NTS.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) represent a perfect match for non-terrestrial sensing and communications in 6G. Hence, it is of great interest to combine UAVs with satellites to maximize their respective advantages for emerging applications. This project tackles the challenges of using UAV for non-terrestrial communications and non-terrestrial sensing, in combination with satellites, for 6G. The objectives of this research include:1)Data-driven UAV deployment: to perform intelligent analysis of the spatial and temporal needs for UAV deployment using data mining techniques in important 6G scenarios;2)Communications and sensing channel modelling: to establish realistic channel models to describe the 3D environment in non-terrestrial applications;3)Separate non-terrestrial communications and sensing designs: to develop efficient data transmission strategies to ensure the reliable delivery of information and the accurate acquisition of network perception using new channel models, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces and computer vision;4)Integrated non-terrestrial communications and sensing designs: to devise robust signal processing and networking algorithms to integrate non-terrestrial communications with non-terrestrial sensing using dual-functional waveforms and UAV wireless charging based on the previous separate designs;5)Sensing-based communications designs: to design effective non-terrestrial communications methods using the network information acquired from non-terrestrial sensing;6)Disseminate, exploit and communicate the outcomes of this research to the wider community. Achieving the above measurable objectives will provide crucial inputs to the exploitation of UAVs in non-terrestrial communications and non-terrestrial sensing for 6G by solving its major challenges, which will allow us to address the digital inequality issue and to enhance the terrestrial network functionality.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA · PadovaCoordinatorItaly
  • CENTRALESUPELEC · GIF SUR YVETTEFrance
  • CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisFrance
  • FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITAET ERLANGEN-NUERNBERG · ErlangenGermany
  • FUNDACION IMDEA NETWORKS · Leganes (Madrid)Spain
  • KING'S COLLEGE LONDON · LondonUnited Kingdom
  • NEW YORK UNIVERSITY · NEW YORKUnited States
  • NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY · Boston MaUnited States
  • RANPLAN WIRELESS NETWORK DESIGN LTD · CAMBRIDGEUnited Kingdom
  • SOUTHEAST UNIVERSITY · NANJINGChina
  • TELEFONICA INNOVACION DIGITAL SL · MADRIDSpain
  • TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY · BEIJINGChina
  • UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM · DURHAMUnited Kingdom
  • WEST AQUILA SRL · L AQUILAItaly
  • XIDIAN UNIVERSITY - XDU · XIANChina

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union