Sustainable Air-Ground Integrated Coverage Networks: ISCC Architecture, Technologies, and Testbed

2026-07-18

AI Summary

This study addresses the critical gap in existing aerial-terrestrial integrated coverage networks, which predominantly emphasize coverage enhancement while neglecting sustainability, thereby failing to balance coverage performance and carbon efficiency in low-altitude economies. For the first time, sustainability is explicitly incorporated into network design through a closed-loop architecture integrating sensing, communication, and computation (ISCC). Leveraging AI-driven dynamic resource orchestration, the proposed framework synergistically combines integrated sensing and communication, hybrid precoding, and simultaneous wireless information and power transfer to optimize energy efficiency. A multidimensional evaluation framework is also established, encompassing operational efficiency, task performance, and full lifecycle carbon footprint. Real-world platform experiments demonstrate that the approach achieves over 90% coverage probability while reducing power consumption by 20%, validating the feasibility of a green aerial-terrestrial integrated network.

Abstract

The rapid emergence of sixth-generation (6G) networks and the low-altitude economy has accelerated the evolution of wireless infrastructures toward air-ground integrated coverage networks (AGICNs), which seamlessly fuse terrestrial and aerial communication resources. However, existing AGICN studies primarily focus on coverage enhancement, while ignoring sustainability. Pursuing sustainable AGICNs introduces new challenges due to the multidimensional resource coupling across heterogeneous air-ground segments. In view of this, this paper presents a comprehensive survey and tutorial on sustainable AGICNs, aiming to balance coverage capacity with carbon efficiency in low-altitude economies. An integrated sensing, communication, and computation (ISCC)-driven architecture, which enables dynamic resource orchestration through closed-loop control, is proposed. We thus introduce a multi-dimensional sustainability metric system, which covers operational efficiency, task-oriented performance, and full lifecycle carbon emissions, to quantify energy and carbon footprints. We review enabling technologies, including artificial intelligence, hybrid precoding, integrated sensing and communication, and simultaneous wireless information and power transfer, and discuss their integration into the ISCC framework to minimize energy consumption while maintaining robust coverage. Experimental results on a real-world testbed demonstrate a 20% reduction in power consumption while achieving over 90% coverage probability, highlighting the feasibility of sustainable AGICNs for future green networks.

Problem

• Sustainable AGICNs
• Air-Ground Integrated Coverage Networks
• Carbon Efficiency
• Low-Altitude Economy
• Resource Coupling

Innovation

• ISCC architecture
• sustainable AGICNs
• carbon efficiency
• dynamic resource orchestration
• integrated sensing and communication