A Novel Multimodal Fusion Sensing-Based Channel Prediction Method for UAV Communications

Unmanned-aerial-vehicle (UAV) communications, as a critical application scenario in the sixth generation (6G) wireless communication field, has garnered widespread attention. During UAV-to-ground communication, channel data plays a pivotal role. Analyzing channel data enables an understanding of communication environments’ diversity and temporal variability, thereby facilitating the construction of more efficient communication systems. This article proposes a novel UAV-to-ground channel prediction method based on multimodal fusion. The method aims to achieve real-time and precise prediction of UAV-to-ground channel data from UAVs in the 3-D airspace by integrating various sources of information, including UAV-captured images, location data of transmitters and receivers, and communication settings. The network uses a fused architecture combining convolutional neural network (CNN) and Transformer architecture to extract and integrate features from diverse information sources. This fusion strategy significantly enhances the accuracy of UAV-to-ground channel prediction. Incorporating image information enables the network better to comprehend the complexity and dynamics of communication environments, thereby assisting in achieving more precise UAV-to-ground channel prediction. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves real-time prediction of ground channels across various flight altitudes and communication frequency bands. This provides robust technical support for advancing UAV communication and offers new insights for optimizing and upgrading future wireless communication systems.