Safeguarding Beyond-5G Wireless Communications with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Design and Optimization

The application frameworks of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more commonly known as drones, have recently gained popularity in public and civil domains. In the beyond-5G wireless networks, drone technology would play a crucial role in establishing or improving seamless and pervasive connectivity. This thesis addresses the security challenges of such aerial wireless communications using low-complexity physical-layer techniques. Our fundamental goal is to design, develop, and optimize analytical frameworks for deploying confidential and energy-efficient wireless drone communication systems. Our research lays a solid foundation for safeguarding drone communications by proposing efficient solutions and algorithms based on convex optimization and artificial intelligence.