Cell selection for uncrewed aerial vehicle command and control link reliability over cellular networks

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processing system including at least one processor deployed in a cellular network, cause the processing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• detecting capability information of an uncrewed aerial vehicle, wherein the capability information includes carrier aggregation capability information, wherein the uncrewed aerial vehicle includes at least one cellular radio for communication with the cellular network;
• selecting, in accordance with the carrier aggregation capability information of the uncrewed aerial vehicle, a primary cell of the cellular network to serve the uncrewed aerial vehicle, wherein the selecting comprises selecting the primary cell from among a plurality of cells within a communication range of the uncrewed aerial vehicle based on the primary cell having a largest coverage range for the uncrewed aerial vehicle as compared to other cells of the plurality of cells;
• and
• transmitting at least a first instruction to assign at least a first portion of data traffic of the uncrewed aerial vehicle to the primary cell, wherein the at least the first portion of the data traffic comprises command and control traffic of the uncrewed aerial vehicle.

An apparatus comprising:

• a processing system including at least one processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processing system when deployed in a cellular network, cause the processing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• detecting capability information of an uncrewed aerial vehicle, wherein the capability information includes carrier aggregation capability information, wherein the uncrewed aerial vehicle includes at least one cellular radio for communication with the cellular network;
• selecting, in accordance with the carrier aggregation capability information of the uncrewed aerial vehicle, a primary cell of the cellular network to serve the uncrewed aerial vehicle, wherein the selecting comprises selecting the primary cell from among a plurality of cells within a communication range of the uncrewed aerial vehicle based on the primary cell having a largest coverage range for the uncrewed aerial vehicle as compared to other cells of the plurality of cells;
• and
• transmitting at least a first instruction to assign at least a first portion of data traffic of the uncrewed aerial vehicle to the primary cell, wherein the at least the first portion of the data traffic comprises command and control traffic of the uncrewed aerial vehicle.