Digital Twin for Aerial-Ground Networks

With the widespread deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in civil and military fields, researchers have turned their attention towards the emerging area of aerial-ground networks for computing-intensive applications, data-intensive applications, and network-intensive applications. However, the application of aerial-ground networks relies on dynamic perceptions and intelligent decision making, which are difficult to conceive of due to the heterogeneity of ground devices and the complexity of the aerial-ground environment. The convergence of digital twin (DT) and UAVs has great potential to tackle the challenge and improve the service quality and stability in applications such as rescue and search and communication relaying. This chapter first investigates the advantages, challenges, and key techniques of DTs for aerial-ground networks. In addition, we highlight the main issues of DT for UAV-assisted aerial-ground networks with two case studies, including cross-domain resource management and intelligent cooperation among devices.