ZTE Communications ›› 2021, Vol. 19 ›› Issue (1): 39-47.DOI: 10.12142/ZTECOM.202101006

• Special Topic • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Green Air-Ground Integrated Heterogeneous Network in 6G Era

WU Huici(), LI Hanjie, TAO Xiaofeng   

  1. Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China
  • Received:2021-01-29 Online:2021-03-25 Published:2021-04-09
  • About author:WU Huici (dailywu@bupt.edu.cn) received the Ph.D. degree from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT), China in 2018. From 2016 to 2017, she visited the Broadband Communications Research (BBCR) Group, University of Waterloo, Canada. She is now an associate professor at BUPT. She served as the publication co-chair of APCC 2018 and TPC member of IEEE ICC 2019/2020 and IEEE/CIC ICCC 2019/2020. Her research interests are in the area of wireless communications and networks, with current emphasis on collaborative air-to-ground communications and wireless access security.|LI Hanjie received her B.E. degree from North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, China in 2017. She is currently pursing M.S. degree in Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China. Her research interests are in the area of physical layer security and UAV power saving communications.|TAO Xiaofeng received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China in 1993 and the M.S.E.E. and Ph.D. degrees in telecommunication engineering from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT), China in 1999 and 2002, respectively. He was a visiting professor with Stanford University, USA from 2010 to 2011; the chief architect of the Chinese National FuTURE Fourth-Generation (4G) TDD working group from 2003 to 2006; and established the 4G TDD CoMP trial network in 2006. He is currently a professor at BUPT and the Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). He is the inventor or co-inventor of 50 patents and the author or co-author of 120 papers in 4G and beyond 4G.
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(61901051)

Abstract:

The research of three-dimensional integrated communication technology plays a key role in achieving the ubiquitous connectivity, ultra-high data rates, and emergency communications in the sixth generation (6G) networks. Aerial networking provides a promising solution to flexible, scalable, low-cost and reliable coverage for wireless devices. The integration of aerial network and terrestrial network has been an inevitable paradigm in the 6G era. However, energy-efficient communications and networking among aerial network and terrestrial network face great challenges. This paper is dedicated to discussing green communications of the air-ground integrated heterogeneous network (AGIHN). We first provide a brief introduction to the characteristics of AGIHN in 6G networks. Further, we analyze the challenges of green AGIHN from the aspects of green terrestrial networks and green aerial networks. Finally, several solutions to and key technologies of the green AGIHN are discussed.

Key words: air-ground integrated heterogeneous network, 6G, green communications