Dynamic Relay Selection and Positioning for Cooperative UAV Networks

In this letter, we are interested in resource reservation for networking purposes in drone teams deployed for search and rescue missions. We build on a well-known static relay positioning technique that minimizes the number of drones and propose a positioning and trajectory planning algorithm for relay nodes to provide connectivity to drones that are out in the air for a search mission. Our results show that by reserving a portion of the available drones for relay purposes only, gains as high as 50% can be achieved in mission times, while providing continuous connectivity from the search drones to BS.