Joint Optimization of Beamforming and Trajectory for UAV-RIS-Assisted MU-MISO Systems Using GNN and SD3

In urban environments, direct communication links between a base station (BS) and user equipment (UEs) are often obstructed by buildings. To mitigate these blockages, we integrate uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) to enhance system flexibility and improve transmission efficiency. This paper investigates an RIS-assisted multi-user multiple-input single-output (MU-MISO) downlink system, where the RIS is mounted on a UAV. To maximize the system rate while minimizing the UAV’s energy consumption and flight duration, we formulate a multi-objective optimization problem. To address this problem, we propose a hybrid algorithm that integrates the soft deep deterministic policy gradient (SD3) algorithm with a graph neural network (GNN) architecture, named SD3-GNN-RIS. The original problem is decomposed into two subproblems: joint active beamforming at the BS and passive beamforming at the RIS, optimized via a GNN-based approach, and three-dimensional (3D) UAV trajectory optimization, formulated as a Markov decision process and solved using the SD3 algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed algorithm compared to baseline methods in terms of system rate, energy efficiency, and UAV trajectory optimization.