Sense-Store-Send: Trajectory Optimization for a Buffer-aided Internet of UAVs

TL;DR

This paper proposes an iterative algorithm to optimize UAV trajectories, sensing locations, and sensing times, significantly reducing task completion time in buffer-aided UAV-based data collection over cellular networks.

Contribution

It introduces a novel joint optimization framework and an efficient iterative algorithm for minimizing completion time in UAV data sensing and transmission.

Findings

The proposed algorithm reduces overall sensing and transmission time.

It effectively balances sensing duration and UAV flying time.

Simulation results confirm improved performance over baseline methods.

Abstract

In this letter, we study a buffer-aided Internet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in which a UAV performs data sensing, stores the data, and sends it to the base station (BS) in cellular networks. To minimize the overall completion time for all the sensing tasks, we formulate a joint trajectory, sensing location, and sensing time optimization problem. To solve this NP-hard problem efficiently, we propose an iterative trajectory, sensing location and sensing time optimization (ITLTO) algorithm, and discuss the trade-off between sensing time and flying time. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively reduce the completion time for the sensing tasks.