Novel Road-Aware Line-of-Sight Probability Model for Urban Air Mobility

As urban air mobility (UAM) emerges as a transformative solution to urban transportation, the demand for robust communication frameworks capable of supporting high-density aerial traffic becomes increasingly critical. An essential area of communications improvement is reliably characterizing and minimizing interference on UAM aircraft from other aircraft and ground vehicles. To achieve this, reliable and accurate line-of-sight (LOS) models must be used. In this work, we highlight the limitations of a LOS probability model extensively used in the literature in accurately predicting interference caused by smart ground vehicles. Then, we introduce a novel probability of LOS model that improves interference prediction by incorporating the urban topography and the dynamic positioning of ground vehicles on streets. Our model's parameters are derived from extensive simulations and validated through real-world urban settings to ensure reliability and applicability.