We consider the positioning problem of aerial drone systems for efficient three-dimensional (3-D) coverage. Our solution draws from molecular geometry, where forces among electron pairs surrounding a central atom arrange their positions. In this paper, we propose a 3-D clustering algorithm for autonomous positioning (VBCA) of aerial drone networks based on virtual forces. These virtual forces induce interactions among drones and structure the system topology. The advantages of our approach are that (1) virtual forces enable drones to self-organize the positioning process and (2) VBCA can be implemented entirely localized. Extensive simulations show that our virtual forces clustering approach produces scalable 3-D topologies exhibiting near-optimal volume coverage. VBCA triggers efficient topology rearrangement for an altering number of nodes, while providing network connectivity to the central drone. We also draw a comparison of volume coverage achieved by VBCA against existing approaches and find VBCA up to 40 more efficient.
There are various approaches for the 3-D coordination and positioning of aerial networks. The aerial network presented by Elston and Frew @cite_20 contains a central ship with multiple drones, which use field tracking for the hierarchy. Dumiak @cite_24 proposes a coordination mechanism for aerial networks to complete the tasks by multiple drones. UAVNet is an autonomous deployment framework for FANETs by @cite_0 . UAVNet aims to provide an efficient way to construct a communication network, which can be controlled by a single remote user. The mobility prediction clustering algorithm @cite_19 uses the dictionary tree structure prediction algorithm with link expiration time mobility model to overcome the challenge of frequent cluster updates by predicting the network topology updates. @cite_2 propose a positioning and collision avoidance strategy for UAVs in search scenarios, which uses received signal strength (RSS) from the onboard communication module. De @cite_4 propose a prognostics and health monitoring based multi-UAV task assignment approach to include system probability of failure into task assignment in a drone system. This method assigns tasks based on the drone health condition using the Receding Horizon Task Assignment (RHTA) algorithm.
@cite_4 @cite_24 @cite_19 @cite_0 @cite_2 @cite_20
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We consider a collection of single-antenna ground nodes communicating with a multi-antenna unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over a multiple-access ground-to-air communications link. The UAV uses beamforming to mitigate inter-user interference and achieve spatial division multiple access (SDMA). First, we consider a simple scenario with two static ground nodes and analytically investigate the effect of the UAV's heading on the system sum rate. We then study a more general setting with multiple mobile ground-based terminals, and develop an algorithm for dynamically adjusting the UAV heading to maximize the approximate ergodic sum rate of the uplink channel, using a prediction filter to track the positions of the mobile ground nodes. For the common scenario where a strong line-of-sight (LOS) channel exists between the ground nodes and UAV, we use an asymptotic analysis to find simplified versions of the algorithm for low and high SNR. We present simulation results that demonstrate the benefits of adapting the UAV heading in order to optimize the uplink communications performance. The simulation results also show that the simplified algorithms provide near-optimal performance. Due to the high maneuverability, flexible deployment, and low cost, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have attracted significant interest recently in assisting wireless communication. This paper considers a multi-UAV enabled wireless communication system, where multiple UAV-mounted aerial base stations are employed to serve a group of users on the ground. To achieve fair performance among users, we maximize the minimum throughput over all ground users in the downlink communication by optimizing the multiuser communication scheduling and association jointly with the UAV’s trajectory and power control. The formulated problem is a mixed integer nonconvex optimization problem that is challenging to solve. As such, we propose an efficient iterative algorithm for solving it by applying the block coordinate descent and successive convex optimization techniques. Specifically, the user scheduling and association, UAV trajectory, and transmit power are alternately optimized in each iteration. In particular, for the nonconvex UAV trajectory and transmit power optimization problems, two approximate convex optimization problems are solved, respectively. We further show that the proposed algorithm is guaranteed to converge. To speed up the algorithm convergence and achieve good throughput, a low-complexity and systematic initialization scheme is also proposed for the UAV trajectory design based on the simple circular trajectory and the circle packing scheme. Extensive simulation results are provided to demonstrate the significant throughput gains of the proposed design as compared to other benchmark schemes. We consider the positioning problem of aerial drone systems for efficient three-dimensional (3-D) coverage. Our solution draws from molecular geometry, where forces among electron pairs surrounding a central atom arrange their positions. In this paper, we propose a 3-D clustering algorithm for autonomous positioning (VBCA) of aerial drone networks based on virtual forces. These virtual forces induce interactions among drones and structure the system topology. The advantages of our approach are that (1) virtual forces enable drones to self-organize the positioning process and (2) VBCA can be implemented entirely localized. Extensive simulations show that our virtual forces clustering approach produces scalable 3-D topologies exhibiting near-optimal volume coverage. VBCA triggers efficient topology rearrangement for an altering number of nodes, while providing network connectivity to the central drone. We also draw a comparison of volume coverage achieved by VBCA against existing approaches and find VBCA up to 40 more efficient. A multi-UAV system relies on communications to operate. Failure to communicate remotely sensed mission data to the base may render the system ineffective, and the inability to exchange command and control messages can lead to system failures. This paper describes a unique method to control network communications through distributed task allocation to engage under-utilized UAVs to serve as communication relays and to ensure that the network supports mission tasks. This work builds upon a distributed algorithm previously developed by the authors, CBBA with Relays, which uses task assignment information, including task location and proposed execution time, to predict the network topology and plan support using relays. By explicitly coupling task assignment and relay creation processes, the team is able to optimize the use of agents to address the needs of dynamic complex missions. In this work, the algorithm is extended to explicitly consider realistic network communication dynamics, including path loss, stochastic fading, and information routing. Simulation and flight test results validate the proposed approach, demonstrating that the algorithm ensures both data-rate and interconnectivity bit-error-rate requirements during task execution.