Dual Versus Dedicated Clustering in D-MIMO Networks With Aerial and Ground Users

In this work, the performance of distributed multiple-input and multiple-output networks simultaneously serving uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and ground user equipments (GUEs) is evaluated considering dual and dedicated strategies of access points clusterization. In the dual approach, the two types of users can share the same access point array, while in the dedicated one an access point array can serve only one type of user. The schemes were implemented using the dynamic cooperation cluster (DCC) method and the k-nearest neighbors (KNN) algorithm based on the large scale coefficients. In the dedicated scheme, the access point array is up-tilted to benefit the served UAVs. The results show that, due to the restriction in cluster size of KNN, the DCC algorithm is better for the UAVs for both dual and dedicated schemes, specially with the up-tilted arrays. For the same reason, KNN works best for GUEs. Moreover, employing a dedicated KNN method for GUEs and the DCC method for UAVs along with up-tilted access point arrays in the same scenario provides the best results for both types of users.