eVTOL Communication System

Takeoff, hover, climbing, cruising, falling, and landing are the stages of an eVTOL's flight. Each eVTOL
variant has its own flight profile, with variable cruise and takeoff/landing styles. An eVTOL's typical flight
profile is depicted below. eVTOLs can communicate utilizing traditional onground networks during
takeoff, ascent, descent, and landing. However, a large portion of the eVTOL flight profile includes a
cruising phase during which on-ground communication networks fail. As a result, our key findings focus
on potential communication link design solutions during the cruise stage.

FIGURE 2 | Potential eVTOL connectivity solutions.

 1. Connectivity Using Cellular Networks

Ground-based cellular networks are one technology that could enable eVTOL connectivity. The BS-to-
eVTOL link will have both line-of-sight (LoS) and non-line-of-sight (NLoS) components since on-ground
BSs are stationed at a lower elevation than the eVTOLs' cruising altitude. Because impediments such as
high-rise buildings cause the NLoS component to appear, we must calculate the received power for both
the LoS and NLoS components of a BS-to-eVTOL link. Consider an eVTOL that is flying at a cruising
altitude of 330 meters and communicates with a modified ground BS that has three-dimensional
coverage, allowing aerial connectivity.

Connectivity Using Tethered Balloons

The received power at the eVTOL is highly dependent on the TB's frequency. The operating frequency of
a wireless communication transceiver on the TB can be in the long-term evolution (LTE) band (600 MHz
to 6 GHz) or the millimeter-wave range (24–86 GHz) GSMA (2019). As a result, we use two possible
frequencies given by the ITU, namely 24 and 28 GHz, for the TBs. The bandwidth for the 24–86 GHz
range is 400 MHz, according to ITU regulations. The strength of wireless transmissions is related to the
square of the distance traveled. In this case, path length has a considerable impact on the propagating
signal's path loss.