UAV Swarm Network Planning for Continuous and Energy-Efficient Emergency Communication

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is a promising method for emergency communication due to its rapid deployment and flexible networking. However, the limitations of energy capacity and long communication distances between UAVs make it challenging to cover multiple different relief sites and provide continuous and uninterrupted network services. To this end, we propose a multi-UAV swarm planning strategy to solve the issue while minimizing energy consumption. We first propose a multidifferentiated periodic rotational path method to solve the energy capacity constraints of individual UAVs and ensure the stability of swarm services. Then, a dynamic tree strategy is utilized to support the continuous backhaul network of the UAV swarm, based on the distribution of disaster relief sites. Further, an ant colony-based path planning algorithm is designed to optimize the overall energy consumption of UAVs. Simulation results show that the proposed strategy can construct an efficient UAV swarm to support emergency communication and significantly reduce energy consumption compared to benchmarks.