DroneCom 2020 - International Workshop on Drone-Assisted Smart Backhaul Solutions for 5G and Beyond (DroneCom)

Mobile communication technology is leading towards the deployment of Fifth generation (5G) networks, wherein Internet of Things (IoT) is likely to play a central role. It is expected that 5G deployments will be characterized by increased network density, enhanced capacity, near ubiquitous connectivity, and ultra-reliable and low latency communications, in order to deliver flawless quality of service (QoS) that is essential for IoT to be successful. To deal with these trends and support the growing appetite of data services, mobile backhaul becomes an indispensable solution towards realising a 5G network. Moreover, the emergence of dense heterogeneous networks (HetNets), which are constantly promoted as a prime candidate for 5G evolution, has further provisioned the need of mobile backhaul solutions while making it a critical component of RAN. However, wireless backhauling relies on Small Cell Base Stations (SBSs); wherein the installation of extra terrestrial infrastructures for SBSs may not be an acceptable solution due to the high cost of deployment. Thus, a huge paradigm shift in backhaul network design is highly desirable for 5G networks in order to dynamically manage the increasing traffic demands of SBSs and cater new applications with ease. In this direction, the integration of both terrestrial and aerial network components can be considered a promising solution. Therefore, drone-mounted infrastructure are envisioned to supplement the terrestrial infrastructure while improving flexibility and reliability of backhaul operations. However, in order to reap the full potential of drones in 5G backhaul, it must cope with the inherent challenges like lack of fixed backhaul links, multi-drone coordination, collision and crash avoidance, sparsely and intermittently connected network topologies, and moreover limited communication, computation, and endurance capabilities. Therefore, the proposed workshop aims to bring together researchers and practitioners to share their ideas, latest findings, and state-of-the-art results on fostering the promising benefits of drones in 5G backhaul networks.