UAV-Enabled Joint Sensing, Communication, Powering and Backhaul Transmission in Maritime Monitoring Networks

TL;DR

This paper proposes a UAV-enabled integrated system for maritime monitoring that combines sensing, communication, power transfer, and backhaul, optimizing operations for energy efficiency and sensing quality in challenging sea conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel joint optimization framework for UAV trajectory, time allocation, and power scheduling in a multi-functional maritime monitoring network.

Findings

Buoys achieve over 22bps/Hz data rate with 2mW harvested power.

The optimization framework converges well and is robust.

Optimal UAV paths maintain distance from buoys to balance sensing and transmission.

Abstract

This paper addresses the challenge of energy-constrained maritime monitoring networks by proposing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-enabled integrated sensing, communication, powering and backhaul transmission scheme with a tailored time-division duplex frame structure. Within each time slot, the UAV sequentially implements sensing, wireless charging and uplink receiving with buoys, and lastly forwards part of collected data to the central ship via backhaul links. Considering the tight coupling among these functions, we jointly optimize time allocation, UAV trajectory, UAV-buoy association, and power scheduling to maximize the performance of data collection, with the practical consideration of sea clutter effects during UAV sensing. A novel optimization framework combining alternating optimization, quadratic transform and augmented first-order Taylor approximation is developed, which demonstrates good convergence behavior and robustness. Simulation results show that under sensing quality-of-service constraint, buoys are able to achieve an average data rate over 22bps/Hz using around 2mW harvested power per active time slot, validating the scheme's effectiveness for open-sea monitoring. Additionally, it is found that under the influence of sea clutters, the optimal UAV trajectory always keeps a certain distance with buoys to strike a balance between sensing and other multi-functional transmissions.