UAV Corridor Coverage Analysis with Base Station Antenna Uptilt and Strongest Signal Association

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) corridors are sky lanes where UAVs fly throughsafely between their origin and destination. To ensure the successful operationof UAV corridors, beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) wireless connectivitywithin the corridor is crucial. One promising solution to support this is theuse of cellular-connected UAV (C-UAV) networks, which offer long-range andseamless wireless coverage. However, conventional terrestrial base stations(BSs) that typically employ down-tilted sector antennas to serve ground usersare not ideally suited to serve the aerial vehicles positioned above the BSs.In our previous work, we focused on studying the optimal uptilt angle of BSantennas to maximize the wireless coverage probability in UAV corridors.However, the association of BSs with UAVs was restricted to the nearest BSassociation, which limits the potential coverage benefits. In this paper, weaddress this limitation by considering the strongest BS signal association inUAV corridors, which enables enhanced coverage within the corridor compared tothe nearest BS association. The strongest BS association allows UAVs to connectwith the second nearest BSs while also accounting for interference from thethird nearest BSs. Closed-form expression analysis and simulation results showthat the strongest BSs association in UAV corridors yields a superior coverageprobability when compared to the nearest BS association.