@article{4607,
  author = {Lam Dong Huynh, Lam Thanh Tu, Tan N. Nguyen},
  title = {Analyzing Outage Performance in a UAV-Assisted Backscatter System Operating under Realistic Composite Fading Conditions},
  journal = {Journal of Digital Information Management},
  year = {2025},
  volume = {23},
  number = {4},
  doi = {https://doi.org/10.6025/jdim/2025/23/4/234-246},
  url = {https://www.dline.info/fpaper/jdim/v23i4/jdimv23i4_3.pdf},
  abstract = {This paper analyzes the performance of a UAV-enabled backscatter communication system for low power
IoT networks. The system consists of a power beacon that wirelessly energizes an energy constrained source
node, which then transmits data to a UAV-mounted backscatter relay; the UAV reflects the signal to a destination.
A realistic composite fading model is adopted: Rician fading for UAV-involved links (source-to-
UAV and UAV-to-destination) to account for dominant line of sight (LoS) components, and Rayleigh fading
for the ground based power beacon to source link due to shadowing. The main contribution is the derivation
of an exact closed form expression for the system's outage probability using the Meijer G-function, enabling
efficient performance evaluation without extensive simulations. The analysis incorporates a time switching
protocol where the source alternates between energy harvesting and data transmission. Numerical results
validate the analytical model and reveal critical insights: outage performance improves significantly with
higher Rician K-factors (indicating stronger LoS), and an optimal time switching ratio exists that minimizes
outage by balancing energy harvesting and data transmission durations. Additionally, hardware parameters
such as backscatter coefficient and energy conversion efficiency strongly influence system reliability. The study
also highlights the trade off between target data rate and outage probability, showing that higher
beacon transmit power supports higher data rates at fixed reliability levels. These findings provide practical
guidance for designing efficient UAV-assisted backscatter IoT systems.},
}