TransfoREM: Transformer aided 3D Radio Environment Mapping

Fuente: arXiv
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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Reddy, Gautham, Guvenc, Ismail, Sichitiu, Mihail L., Bhuyan, Arupjyoti, Petersen, Bryton, Abrahamson, Jason
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Reddy, Gautham
Guvenc, Ismail
Sichitiu, Mihail L.
Bhuyan, Arupjyoti
Petersen, Bryton
Abrahamson, Jason
author_facet Reddy, Gautham
Guvenc, Ismail
Sichitiu, Mihail L.
Bhuyan, Arupjyoti
Petersen, Bryton
Abrahamson, Jason
contents Providing reliable cellular connectivity to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) is a key challenge, as existing terrestrial networks are deployed mainly for ground-level coverage. The cellular network coverage may be available for a limited range from the antenna side lobes, with poor connectivity further exacerbated by UAV flight dynamics. In this work, we propose TransfoREM, a 3D Radio Environment Map (REM) generation method that combines deterministic channel models and real-world data to map terrestrial network coverage at higher altitudes. At the core of our solution is a transformer model that translates radio propagation mapping into a sequence prediction task to construct REMs. Our results demonstrate that TransfoREM offers improved interpolation capability on real-world data compared against conventional Kriging and other machine learning (ML) techniques. Furthermore, TransfoREM is designed for holistic integration into cellular networks at the base station (BS) level, where it can build REMs, which can then be leveraged for enhanced resource allocation, interference management, and spatial spectrum utilization.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_16421
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle TransfoREM: Transformer aided 3D Radio Environment Mapping
Reddy, Gautham
Guvenc, Ismail
Sichitiu, Mihail L.
Bhuyan, Arupjyoti
Petersen, Bryton
Abrahamson, Jason
Signal Processing
Providing reliable cellular connectivity to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) is a key challenge, as existing terrestrial networks are deployed mainly for ground-level coverage. The cellular network coverage may be available for a limited range from the antenna side lobes, with poor connectivity further exacerbated by UAV flight dynamics. In this work, we propose TransfoREM, a 3D Radio Environment Map (REM) generation method that combines deterministic channel models and real-world data to map terrestrial network coverage at higher altitudes. At the core of our solution is a transformer model that translates radio propagation mapping into a sequence prediction task to construct REMs. Our results demonstrate that TransfoREM offers improved interpolation capability on real-world data compared against conventional Kriging and other machine learning (ML) techniques. Furthermore, TransfoREM is designed for holistic integration into cellular networks at the base station (BS) level, where it can build REMs, which can then be leveraged for enhanced resource allocation, interference management, and spatial spectrum utilization.
title TransfoREM: Transformer aided 3D Radio Environment Mapping
topic Signal Processing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.16421