Exploiting 6G Networks for Urban Air Mobility Connectivity

Nowadays transportation systems focus on aerial systems trying to exploit vertical solutions due to the overload of ground mobility and the increasing demand in urban scenarios. In response to these challenges, Urban Air Mobility (UAM) will represent a key factor to provide high-speed urban transportation. In this perspective, connectivity is a critical aspect, especially considering the expected high-mobility as well as the high-density areas of the vertiports. Modern mobile networks such as 6G stand out as the easiest and most affordable solution to provide seamless, reliable and high-performance connectivity to UAM vehicles. We provide a mathematical optimization model of a cost-aware design of enhanced Radio Access Network design for UAM connectivity also exploiting Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces. We analyze the achievable performance of the proposed system through a Monte Carlo approach. Results show that future evolution of UAM systems in terms of expected amount of UAM users will represent a critical design aspect and drive decisions on enhanced Base Stations density in urban scenarios as well as power budgeting in mobile networks.