Metasurface-Based Reconfigurable Antennas for UAV-to-Ground Communication in Disaster Recovery

Abstract

UAVs have turned out to be inevitable in conducting rescue missions in the event of disasters because of their flexibility in deployment and the ability to deploy rapidly, and creating emergency communication networks. Nevertheless, there are disadvantages to the advantages, even in easily maintained UAV-to ground (U2G) links in dynamic cluttered environments. This paper proposes a new communication framework with the use of metasurface-based reconfigurable antennas (MRAs) to achieve higher performances and resiliencies in communication within the disaster-struck locations using UAV communication system. The benefit of the proposed MRAs is that they make real-time beam steering and polarization reconfiguration possible, which lets the UAV undergo dynamic adaptation to the changing channel conditions, obstacles, and mobility restraints. The antenna is designed such that it places a digitally programmable metasurface on a low mass, compact platform that is applicable in UAVs. Simulations full-wave electromagnetic and real field tests, show significant enhancement in communication reliability with 38 percent increase in the link stability and 26 percent gain enhancement over conventional patch antenna systems. Such findings reveal that MRAs should present a viable fix to allow energy-efficient, dependable, and flexible communication in a disaster recovery situation helped by UAVs.