Mobility Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle as Communication Relay to Optimize Ground-to-Air Uplinks
In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been considered an ideal relay platform for enhancing the communication between ground agents, because they fly at high altitudes and are easy to deploy with strong adaptabilities. Their maneuvering allows them to adjust their location to optimiz...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-04-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/8/2332 |
| _version_ | 1827718397144596480 |
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| author | Gaofeng Wu Xiaoguang Gao Kaifang Wan |
| author_facet | Gaofeng Wu Xiaoguang Gao Kaifang Wan |
| author_sort | Gaofeng Wu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been considered an ideal relay platform for enhancing the communication between ground agents, because they fly at high altitudes and are easy to deploy with strong adaptabilities. Their maneuvering allows them to adjust their location to optimize the performance of links, which brings out the relay UAV autonomous mobility control problem. This work addressed the problem in a novel scene with mobile agents and completely unknown wireless channel properties, using only online measured information of received signal strength (RSS) and agent positions. The problem is challenging because of the unknown and dynamic radio frequency (RF) environment cause by agents and UAV maneuvering. We present a framework for both end-to-end communication and multi-agent-inter communication applications, and focus on proposing: (1) least square estimation-based channel approximation with consideration of environment effects and, (2) gradient-based optimal relay position seeking. Simulation results show that considering the environmental effects on channel parameters is meaningful and beneficial in using UAV as relays for the communication of multiple ground agents, and validate that the proposed algorithms optimizes the network performance by controlling the heading of the UAV. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T20:22:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b7308fba73a242799308c80088ecfc09 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T20:22:30Z |
| publishDate | 2020-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-b7308fba73a242799308c80088ecfc092023-11-19T22:06:59ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202020-04-01208233210.3390/s20082332Mobility Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle as Communication Relay to Optimize Ground-to-Air UplinksGaofeng Wu0Xiaoguang Gao1Kaifang Wan2School of Electronics and Information, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710129, ChinaSchool of Electronics and Information, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710129, ChinaSchool of Electronics and Information, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710129, ChinaIn recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been considered an ideal relay platform for enhancing the communication between ground agents, because they fly at high altitudes and are easy to deploy with strong adaptabilities. Their maneuvering allows them to adjust their location to optimize the performance of links, which brings out the relay UAV autonomous mobility control problem. This work addressed the problem in a novel scene with mobile agents and completely unknown wireless channel properties, using only online measured information of received signal strength (RSS) and agent positions. The problem is challenging because of the unknown and dynamic radio frequency (RF) environment cause by agents and UAV maneuvering. We present a framework for both end-to-end communication and multi-agent-inter communication applications, and focus on proposing: (1) least square estimation-based channel approximation with consideration of environment effects and, (2) gradient-based optimal relay position seeking. Simulation results show that considering the environmental effects on channel parameters is meaningful and beneficial in using UAV as relays for the communication of multiple ground agents, and validate that the proposed algorithms optimizes the network performance by controlling the heading of the UAV.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/8/2332unmanned aerial vehiclerelaymotion controlgradient methodswireless communication |
| spellingShingle | Gaofeng Wu Xiaoguang Gao Kaifang Wan Mobility Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle as Communication Relay to Optimize Ground-to-Air Uplinks Sensors unmanned aerial vehicle relay motion control gradient methods wireless communication |
| title | Mobility Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle as Communication Relay to Optimize Ground-to-Air Uplinks |
| title_full | Mobility Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle as Communication Relay to Optimize Ground-to-Air Uplinks |
| title_fullStr | Mobility Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle as Communication Relay to Optimize Ground-to-Air Uplinks |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mobility Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle as Communication Relay to Optimize Ground-to-Air Uplinks |
| title_short | Mobility Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle as Communication Relay to Optimize Ground-to-Air Uplinks |
| title_sort | mobility control of unmanned aerial vehicle as communication relay to optimize ground to air uplinks |
| topic | unmanned aerial vehicle relay motion control gradient methods wireless communication |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/8/2332 |
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