Software-Defined UAV Networks for 6G Systems: Requirements, Opportunities, Emerging Techniques, Challenges, and Research Directions
The ever-increasing demand for wireless communication has driven the development of innovative technologies to address the issues that conventional communication networks meet. To support autonomous devices in the sixth-generation (6G) and provide seamless wireless connectivity in inaccessible and h...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IEEE
2023-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10274880/ |
| _version_ | 1797648647038435328 |
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| author | Md. Abu Baker Siddiki Abir Mostafa Zaman Chowdhury Yeong Min Jang |
| author_facet | Md. Abu Baker Siddiki Abir Mostafa Zaman Chowdhury Yeong Min Jang |
| author_sort | Md. Abu Baker Siddiki Abir |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The ever-increasing demand for wireless communication has driven the development of innovative technologies to address the issues that conventional communication networks meet. To support autonomous devices in the sixth-generation (6G) and provide seamless wireless connectivity in inaccessible and hard-to-reach areas, the combination of software-defined networking (SDN) with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has already shown promises. As the traditional UAV-based cellular network encompasses challenges such as lack of centralized supervision, robust decision-making ability, and dynamic network management, the SDN platform could be an excellent alternative to offer aerial networking for future 6G ecosystem. However, the SDN-assisted UAV paradigm faces a set of challenges and critical issues. For instance, the network management and orchestration, resource allocation and optimization, handover mechanism, spectrum management, energy efficiency, integration of heterogeneous networks, and reliability, thus causing the decrease of quality of services of the SDN-enables UAV networks. To effectively address all these issues and identify the trends of software-defined UAV (SDUAV) networks, more research activities are needed. Unfortunately, there are not any specific guidelines in the literature that address each of these requirements, enabling technologies, emerging techniques, and future research directions in the context of SDN-based UAV networks to enable next-generation 6G systems. Therefore, motivated by this fact, this paper offers a comprehensive evaluation of the state of the SDUAV network and architecture, highlighting its various requirements and different prospects and applications in 6G systems. Besides, this paper also addresses why the combination of SDN and UAV-enabled networks is becoming essential in the 6G networking context and how it can offer more flexibility, scalability, reliability, and efficient connectivity than the conventional approaches to provide features like intelligence, automation, programmability, and centralized controllability. This paper furthermore outlines the difficulties of implementing SDUAV networks, such as security, adaptability, interference management, interoperability, and lack of standardization. Finally, to accomplish the goals, this article provides a roadmap for future trends and research directions in SDUAV networks to support the 6G systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T15:33:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4650ba82ebe245caad80df9f19e42c50 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2644-125X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T15:33:59Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-4650ba82ebe245caad80df9f19e42c502023-10-26T23:01:39ZengIEEEIEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society2644-125X2023-01-0142487254710.1109/OJCOMS.2023.332320010274880Software-Defined UAV Networks for 6G Systems: Requirements, Opportunities, Emerging Techniques, Challenges, and Research DirectionsMd. Abu Baker Siddiki Abir0https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9353-1452Mostafa Zaman Chowdhury1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1487-086XYeong Min Jang2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9963-303XInstitute of Information and Communication Technology, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology, Khulna, BangladeshDepartment of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology, Khulna, BangladeshDepartment of Electronics Engineering, Kookmin University, Seoul, South KoreaThe ever-increasing demand for wireless communication has driven the development of innovative technologies to address the issues that conventional communication networks meet. To support autonomous devices in the sixth-generation (6G) and provide seamless wireless connectivity in inaccessible and hard-to-reach areas, the combination of software-defined networking (SDN) with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has already shown promises. As the traditional UAV-based cellular network encompasses challenges such as lack of centralized supervision, robust decision-making ability, and dynamic network management, the SDN platform could be an excellent alternative to offer aerial networking for future 6G ecosystem. However, the SDN-assisted UAV paradigm faces a set of challenges and critical issues. For instance, the network management and orchestration, resource allocation and optimization, handover mechanism, spectrum management, energy efficiency, integration of heterogeneous networks, and reliability, thus causing the decrease of quality of services of the SDN-enables UAV networks. To effectively address all these issues and identify the trends of software-defined UAV (SDUAV) networks, more research activities are needed. Unfortunately, there are not any specific guidelines in the literature that address each of these requirements, enabling technologies, emerging techniques, and future research directions in the context of SDN-based UAV networks to enable next-generation 6G systems. Therefore, motivated by this fact, this paper offers a comprehensive evaluation of the state of the SDUAV network and architecture, highlighting its various requirements and different prospects and applications in 6G systems. Besides, this paper also addresses why the combination of SDN and UAV-enabled networks is becoming essential in the 6G networking context and how it can offer more flexibility, scalability, reliability, and efficient connectivity than the conventional approaches to provide features like intelligence, automation, programmability, and centralized controllability. This paper furthermore outlines the difficulties of implementing SDUAV networks, such as security, adaptability, interference management, interoperability, and lack of standardization. Finally, to accomplish the goals, this article provides a roadmap for future trends and research directions in SDUAV networks to support the 6G systems.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10274880/6Gaerial base stationSDNSDUAVUAV-based cellular network |
| spellingShingle | Md. Abu Baker Siddiki Abir Mostafa Zaman Chowdhury Yeong Min Jang Software-Defined UAV Networks for 6G Systems: Requirements, Opportunities, Emerging Techniques, Challenges, and Research Directions IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society 6G aerial base station SDN SDUAV UAV-based cellular network |
| title | Software-Defined UAV Networks for 6G Systems: Requirements, Opportunities, Emerging Techniques, Challenges, and Research Directions |
| title_full | Software-Defined UAV Networks for 6G Systems: Requirements, Opportunities, Emerging Techniques, Challenges, and Research Directions |
| title_fullStr | Software-Defined UAV Networks for 6G Systems: Requirements, Opportunities, Emerging Techniques, Challenges, and Research Directions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Software-Defined UAV Networks for 6G Systems: Requirements, Opportunities, Emerging Techniques, Challenges, and Research Directions |
| title_short | Software-Defined UAV Networks for 6G Systems: Requirements, Opportunities, Emerging Techniques, Challenges, and Research Directions |
| title_sort | software defined uav networks for 6g systems requirements opportunities emerging techniques challenges and research directions |
| topic | 6G aerial base station SDN SDUAV UAV-based cellular network |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10274880/ |
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