Communication-Aware Flight Algorithm for UAVs in Delay-Tolerant Aerial Networks

This study proposes a flight algorithm for delay-tolerant networks using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that cooperatively serve users on the ground. Information from a ground user is relayed across UAVs in a store-and-forward manner before transferring to another user. The network performance considerably depends on how UAVs move because of this feature. In this study, two types of intermittent communication between UAVs and between a UAV and a user are jointly considered to a varying degree in the UAV operation. The measure and optimization problem for UAVs to move are devised, and this measure is heuristically maximized. Simulation results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in terms of information delivery with certain insights in the UAV movement based on UAV-to-user and UAV-to-UAV communication concepts.