The upcoming sixth generation (6G) wireless communication network is envisioned to cover space, air, and maritime areas, in addition to urban-centered terrestrial coverage by the fifth generation (5G) network, to support intelligent Internet of Things (IoT). Towards this end, we investigate structured integration of satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and terrestrial networks, aiming to serve future universal IoT possibly with a massive number of devices in the coverage holes of current 5G. The hybrid satellite-UAV-terrestrial network usually leads to high system complexity, due to the heterogeneity and dynamics of space/air/ground links. With a systematic thinking, we propose to create and exploit hierarchies for the integrated network. Four basic structures are discussed by learning from the synergies in our human body. To orchestrate multiple heterogeneous basic structures, we further propose a process-oriented on-demand coverage method, which characterizes the system behavior as a series of events over time and is able to tackle the system complexity elaborately. We also outline open issues for promoting the agility and intelligence of structured satellite-UAV-terrestrial networks in the making.

中文翻译：

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6G 物联网结构化卫星-无人机-地面网络


即将推出的第六代（6G）无线通信网络除了第五代（5G）网络以城市为中心的地面覆盖外，预计还将覆盖太空、空中和海洋区域，以支持智能物联网（IoT）。为此，我们研究卫星、无人机和地面网络的结构化集成，旨在通过当前 5G 的覆盖漏洞中的大量设备来服务未来的通用物联网。由于空间/空中/地面链路的异构性和动态性，卫星-无人机-地面混合网络通常会导致较高的系统复杂性。通过系统的思考，我们建议创建和利用集成网络的层次结构。通过学习人体的协同作用，讨论了四种基本结构。为了编排多个异构基本结构，我们进一步提出了一种面向过程的按需覆盖方法，该方法将系统行为描述为随时​​间变化的一系列事件，并且能够精心处理系统复杂性。我们还概述了促进正在构建的结构化卫星-无人机-地面网络的敏捷性和智能性的未决问题。