Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Assisted UAV Communication: Joint Trajectory Design and Passive Beamforming

Understand

Thanks to the line-of-sight (LoS) transmission and flexibility, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) effectively improve the throughput of wireless networks.

• Nevertheless, the LoS links are prone to severe deterioration by complex propagation environments, especially in urban areas.
• Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs), as a promising technique, can significantly improve the propagation environment and enhance communication quality by intelligently reflecting the received signals.
• Motivated by this, the joint UAV trajectory and RIS's passive beamforming design for a novel RIS-assisted UAV communication system is investigated to maximize the average achievable rate in this letter.