DEPLOYMENT DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS WITH CONTROLLABLE CHANNELS

Abstract

This thesis undertakes a comprehensive study of two cutting-edge technologies in wireless communications, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and Intelligent Reflecting Surface (IRS), aimed at reconfiguring wireless propagation channels to significantly enhance network coverage, capacity, and reliability. It explores a UAV-enabled relaying system using a novel iterative optimization method, and investigates passive-IRS and double-active-IRS aided systems, focusing on deployment strategies and capacity optimization. The work also proposes a new hybrid active-passive IRS architecture, elucidating its deployment in a multi-user communication system. The proposed algorithms, deployment strategies, and new system architectures open up potential avenues for further research in the field, and their practical implications could be of significant value to the advancement of next-generation wireless communication networks.