# Understanding UAV Cellular Communications: From Existing Networks to Massive MIMO

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.08489 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.08489/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 20 Apr 2018.

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Machine Learning-Aided Operations and Communications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: A Contemporary Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.04324/) (2022)
- [A Convolutional Attention Based Deep Network Solution for UAV Network Attack Recognition over Fading Channels and Interference](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.10810/) (2022)
- [Leveraging Large Vision Model for Multi-UAV Co-perception in Low-Altitude Wireless Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.16927/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The purpose of this article is to bestow the reader with a timely study of UAV cellular communications, bridging the gap between the 3GPP standardization status quo and the more forward-looking research. Special emphasis is placed on the downlink command and control (C&C) channel to aerial users, whose reliability is deemed of paramount technological importance for the commercial success of UAV cellular communications. Through a realistic side-by-side comparison of two network deployments -- a present-day cellular infrastructure versus a next-generation massive MIMO system -- a plurality of key facts are cast light upon, with the three main ones summarized as follows: (i) UAV cell selection is essentially driven by the secondary lobes of a base station's radiation pattern, causing UAVs to associate to far-flung cells; (ii) over a 10 MHz bandwidth, and for UAV heights of up to 300 m, massive MIMO networks can support 100 kbps C&C channels in 74% of the cases when the uplink pilots for channel estimation are reused among base station sites, and in 96% of the cases without pilot reuse across the network; (iii) supporting UAV C&C channels can considerably affect the performance of ground users on account of severe pilot contamination, unless suitable power control policies are in place.