Communications-Aware NMPC for Multi-Rotor Aerial Relay Networks Under Jamming Interference

TL;DR

This paper introduces a communications-aware control framework for multi-rotor aerial relays that optimizes link quality under jamming, significantly improving connectivity and robustness compared to traditional methods.

Contribution

It proposes a modular control approach combining trajectory optimization and NMPC that accounts for antenna orientation and vehicle dynamics to enhance anti-jamming performance.

Findings

Near two-order-of-magnitude increase in minimum end-to-end capacity.

Marked reduction in outage events under jamming.

Tilted platforms maintain link quality better than coplanar ones.

Abstract

Multi-Rotor Aerial Vehicles (MRAVs) are increasingly used in communication-dependent missions where connectivity loss directly compromises task execution. Existing anti-jamming strategies often decouple motion from communication, overlooking that link quality depends on vehicle attitude and antenna orientation. In coplanar platforms, "tilt-to-translate" maneuvers can inadvertently align antenna nulls with communication partners, causing severe degradation under interference. This paper presents a modular communications-aware control framework that combines a high-level max-min trajectory generator with an actuator-level Nonlinear Model Predictive Controller (NMPC). The trajectory layer optimizes the weakest link under jamming, while the NMPC enforces vehicle dynamics, actuator limits, and antenna-alignment constraints. Antenna directionality is handled geometrically, avoiding explicit radiation-pattern parametrization. The method is evaluated in a relay scenario with an active jammer and compared across coplanar and tilted-propeller architectures. Results show a near two-order-of-magnitude increase in minimum end-to-end capacity, markedly reducing outage events, with moderate average-capacity gains. Tilted platforms preserve feasibility and link quality, whereas coplanar vehicles show recurrent degradation. These findings indicate that full actuation is a key enabler of reliable communications-aware operation under adversarial directional constraints.