Two-Hop Multi-UAV Relay Network Optimization with Directional Antennas

TL;DR

This paper presents an iterative optimization framework for a two-hop multi-UAV relay network using directional antennas, improving fairness and throughput through joint scheduling, trajectory, beamwidth, and power control.

Contribution

It introduces a novel joint optimization algorithm for UAV trajectories, antenna beamwidths, and power allocation in a two-hop relay network with realistic antenna models.

Findings

Optimized antenna radiation patterns enhance throughput.

Power and beamwidth optimization significantly improve network performance.

The proposed method achieves better fairness and efficiency.

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the multi-UAV deployment problem for a two-hop relaying system. For a better network performance, UAVs carry directional antennas that are modeled by a realistic radiation pattern. The goal is to maximize the minimum user rates, and therefore achieve fairness in the network. We propose an iterative algorithm to optimize the TDMA scheduling in both hops, UAV trajectories, antenna beamwidths, and transmit power of the base station and relays. Simulation results show the throughput improvement as a result of optimizing the directional antenna radiation patterns. In addition, we derive the optimal power allocation, which combined with the beamwidth optimization yields to a much better performance.