Airborne IMT users in precision agriculture: Monte-Carlo analysis of UAV interference in 694–2690 bands
Solochshenko A. Turzhanova K. Pastukh A. Tikhvinskiy V. Vitulyova Y.
2026Frontiers Media SA
Frontiers in Signal Processing
2026#6
The integration of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into precision agriculture, as envisioned in the agricultural systems, promises significant gains in crop monitoring, yield forecasting, and targeted agro-technical interventions. However, the use of IMT frequency bands for real-time UAV communications introduces new spectrum sharing and compatibility challenges. Unlike terrestrial user equipment, airborne agricultural drones operate always outdoors, above the base-station downtilt, with predominantly line-of-sight (LoS) propagation to multiple cells, drastically altering compatibility conditions and potentially increasing interference to other operators. This paper proposes a Monte Carlo-based simulation framework analysis of interference generated by such UAVs in IMT frequency allocations across 694–2690 MHz. Simulations model rural and urban macrocell deployments typical of large-scale farmlands, incorporating 3D antenna patterns, altitude-dependent air-to-ground channel models, realistic LTE/NR power-control schemes, and UAV operational patterns. Key metrics include aggregate uplink interference at victim cells, downlink degradation at UAVs, and cross-link interference in TDD systems. Results show that even low-power UAV transmissions can exceed harmful interference thresholds in multiple adjacent-channel cells. Operational recommendations are provided to ensure coexistence of precision-agriculture UAVs with terrestrial IMT networks. Copyright
airborne user equipment (UAV-UE) , frequency separation distance , IMT systems , Monte Carlo simulation , precision agriculture , rural macrocell networks , spectrum coexistence , uplink interference
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Almaty University of Power Engineering and Telecommunications named after Gumarbek Daukeev, Almaty, Kazakhstan
The M. I. Krivosheev National Research Centre for Telecommunication (NRCT), Moscow, Russian Federation
National Research University – Higher School of Economics (HSE University), Moscow, Russian Federation
National Scientific Laboratory for the Collective Use of Information and Space Technologies (NSLC IST), Satbayev University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
JSC “Institute of Digital Engineering and Technology”, Almaty, Kazakhstan
International Engineering Technological University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Almaty University of Power Engineering and Telecommunications named after Gumarbek Daukeev
The M. I. Krivosheev National Research Centre for Telecommunication (NRCT)
National Research University – Higher School of Economics (HSE University)
National Scientific Laboratory for the Collective Use of Information and Space Technologies (NSLC IST)
JSC “Institute of Digital Engineering and Technology”
International Engineering Technological University
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