  Wireless transmitters (Txs) radiating directionally downwards often generate
circular footprints on the ground. In certain scenarios, using elliptical cells
can offer increased flexibility for providing user coverage, owing to the
unique network characteristics. For instance, an elliptical footprint can be
produced when a practical directional antenna with unequal azimuth and
elevation half-power beamwidths is used in high-speed railway networks. Another
common scenario involves the production of an elliptical footprint when an
airborne Tx radiates at an angle by tilting its directional antenna by a few
degrees. This paper aims to investigate, for the first time, the association
between the random user location within an elliptical coverage area and the
performance of a wireless communication link by considering these scenarios. We
assume an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as a Tx, although a tall cellular base
station tower could also be employed without losing generality. To better
understand the impact of random location, we derive relevant distance metrics
and investigate the outage probability of the link for the two scenarios,
taking both random terminal location and fading impairments into account. The
findings may provide valuable insights into the performance of similar wireless
systems.
