Communications-Aware NMPC for Multi-Rotor Aerial Relay Networks Under Jamming Interference
Giuseppe Silano, Daniel Bonilla Licea, Davide Liuzza, Antonio Franchi, and Martin Saska

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…
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