Secrecy rate maximization for IRS-aided UAV system using BDE algorithm

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communications are vulnerable to intrusion because of the high line of sight available in the air to ground channel. To enhance security in wireless networks, intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is integrated with the UAV as IRS has the ability to reconfigure the propagation environment. We propose an IRS-aided UAV network in which the IRS is used to assist the UAV in transmitting secret data to the authorized user in the presence of an intruder. The aim is to maximize the secrecy rate by jointly optimizing the transmit beamforming of the UAV, phase shift of the IRS, and the locations of UAV and IRS. To solve the formulated problem, balanced differential evolution (BDE) algorithm is proposed. Simulation results reveal that the suggested approach outperforms the benchmarks.