Analysis of MCP-Distributed Jammers and 3D Beam-Width Variations for UAV-Assisted C-V2X Millimeter-Wave Communications

Jamming devices introduce unwanted signals into the network to disrupt primary communications. The effectiveness of these jamming signals mainly depends on the number and distribution of the jammers. The impact of clustered jamming has not been investigated previously for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-assisted cellular-vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) communications by considering multiple roads in the given region. Also, exploiting three-dimensional (3D) beam-width variations for a millimeter waveband antenna in the presence of jamming for vehicular node (V-N) links has not been evaluated, which influences the UAV-assisted C-V2X system’s performance. The novelty of this paper resides in analyzing the impact of clustered jamming for UAV-assisted C-V2X networks and quantifying the effects of fluctuating antenna 3D beam width on the V-N performance by exploiting millimeter waves. To this end, we derive the analytical expressions for coverage of a typical V-N linked with a line-of-sight (LOS) UAV, non-LOS UAV, macro base station (MBS), and recipient V-N for UAV-assisted C-V2X networks by exploiting beam-width variations in the presence of jammers. The results show network performance in terms of coverage and spectral efficiencies by setting V-Ns equal to 3 km−2, MBSs equal to 3 km−2, and UAVs equal to 6 km−2. The findings indicate that the performance of millimeter waveband UAV-assisted C-V2X communications is decreased by introducing clustered jamming in the given region. Specifically, the coverage performance of the network decreases by 25.5% at −10 dB SIR threshold in the presence of clustered jammers. The performance further declines by increasing variations in the antenna 3D beam width. Therefore, network designers must focus on considering advanced counter-jamming techniques when jamming signals, along with the beam-width fluctuations, are anticipated in vehicular networks.