Coverage Aspects of Temporary LAP Network

Abstract

This paper studies the coverage aspects of a low altitude platform (LAP) system that can form a temporary communication network. The system consists of multiple autonomous drones equipped with dual-band Wi-Fi access points (APs) with ad hoc capabilities to form a mesh network. The suitability of the LAP system is evaluated from the coverage point of view with calculations and simulations. The results show that more drones are needed to cover (dense) urban than rural environment and the drone altitude should also be higher in urban areas compared with the rural areas.