Mission-Critical Connectivity Enhanced by IAB in Beyond 5G: Interplay of Sidelink, Directional Unicasting, and Multicasting

Guaranteeing operational connectivity in emergency situations by means of prompt on-demand network re-configuration is crucial to carry out effective public protection and disaster relief actions. This article analyzes configuration options enhanced the integrated access backhaul (IAB) feature for 5G-Advanced beyond mission-critical services. We specifically aim investigate possible interplay sidelink communications, directional unicast transmissions, multicasting. To this end, we offer a practical methodology based on fluid model approximation capture time dynamics services their transient phase. Simulation results show that multicasting, unicasting, highly solution communications. In contrast, standalone unicast, multicast, transmissions are unable support such A further emerging aspect that, mixed unicast-multicast-sidelink configuration, optimal obtained when multicast exploits most available resources, more than 70%.