Reliable and Resilient Connectivity and Coverage Under Localized Backhauling in UAV-IoT Networks

Multi-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) networks have proven to be an effective solution for delivering wireless coverage to geographically distributed Internet of Things (IoT) devices, especially in challenging environments such as remote or disaster-stricken areas. Effective placement of UAVs is crucial for ensuring both performance and network resilience, as these UAVs must cover ground users while maintaining connectivity to withstand potential cyber-physical attacks or failures. This paper addresses the UAV placement optimization problem, aiming to achieve reliable coverage and robust connectivity for geographically dispersed users or IoT devices. We propose a two-step optimization framework that assigns UAVs distinct roles for either coverage or connectivity. The framework integrates placement optimization with a distributed controller design, enabling system planners to successively guide the UAVs towards optimized final destinations. This ensures that the network simultaneously satisfies coverage and connectivity requirements with a minimal number of UAVs. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves resilient UAV formations, adapting to various user locations and surpassing comparable approaches in terms of resilience and adaptability.