BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Disclosure

Embodiments relate to exchanging a message including a message including an in-flight status indicator between a drone-coupled user equipment and a component of a terrestrial wireless communication subscriber network.

2. Description of the Related Art

User equipments (UEs), such as phones, tablet computers, desktop computers or laptop computers, are generally configured to connect to terrestrial wireless communication subscriber networks (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G LTE, 5G New Radio (NR), etc.) with the expectation that the UEs are not airborne. For example, users are typically asked to place their respective UEs into “airplane” mode between takeoff and landing for commercial flights, which restricts the UEs' capability for connecting to terrestrial wireless communication subscriber networks.

For most manned (or piloted) aerial vehicles, typical cruising altitudes and/or speeds make connections to terrestrial wireless communication subscriber networks impractical. For example, commercial aircraft may reach cruising altitudes near 12 km at speeds between 800-1000 km/hr. Instead of relying upon terrestrial wireless communication subscriber networks to support communications for/with manned aerial vehicles such as commercial aircraft, most countries allocate a portion of Very High Frequency (VHF) radio spectrum to define an Airband or Aircraft band that is dedicated to radio-navigational communications and/or air traffic control communications.

Regulatory agencies are increasingly authorizing deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), such as commercial drones. Commercial drones are being considered to provide a variety of services, such as package delivery, search-and-rescue, monitoring of critical infrastructure, wildlife conservation, flying cameras, surveillance, and so on. Commercial drones may operate at altitudes and speeds that are more suitable for connections to terrestrial wireless communication subscriber networks. For example, in certain environments, commercial drones may operate at cruising altitudes near 100 m at speeds up to or near 160 km/h. However, uplink signals from commercial drones that are in-flight generally create more interference to terrestrial base stations compared to “grounded” UEs in a non-flying state.

SUMMARY

An embodiment is directed to a method of operating a drone-coupled user equipment (UE), comprising determining whether the drone-coupled UE is engaged in a flying state, and transmitting a message to a network component of a terrestrial wireless communication subscriber network that indicates a result of the determining.

Another embodiment is directed to a method of operating a network component of a terrestrial wireless communication subscriber network, comprising receiving a message from a drone-coupled user equipment (UE) that indicates whether the drone-coupled UE is engaged in a flying state.

Another embodiment is directed to a drone-coupled user equipment (UE), comprising at least one processor coupled to a memory and a wireless communications interface and configured to determine whether the drone-coupled UE is engaged in a flying state, and transmit a message to a network component of a terrestrial wireless communication subscriber network that indicates a result of the determining.

Another embodiment is directed to a network component of a terrestrial wireless communication subscriber network, comprising at least one processor coupled to a memory and at least one communications interface and configured to receive a message from a drone-coupled user equipment (UE) that indicates whether the drone-coupled UE is engaged in a flying state.

