A UAV-Mounted free space optical communication: Trajectory optimization for flight time

Ju Hyung Lee, Ki Hong Park, Young Chai Ko, Mohamed Slim Alouini

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    68 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    In this work, we address the trajectory optimization of a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using free space optical communication (FSOC). Here, we focus on maximizing the flight time of the UAV by considering practical constraints for wireless UAV communication, including limited propulsion energy and required data rates. We find optimized trajectories in various atmospheric environments (e.g., moderate-fog and heavy-fog conditions), while also considering the channel characteristics of FSOC. In addition to maximizing the flight time, we consider the energy efficiency maximization and operation-time minimization problem to find the suboptimal solutions required to meet those constraints. Furthermore, we introduce a low-complexity approach to the proposed framework. In order to address the optimization problem, we conduct a bisection method and sequential programming and introduce a new feasibility check algorithm. Although our design considers suboptimal solutions owing to the nonconvexity of the problems, our simulations indicate that the proposed scheme exhibits a gain of approximately 44.12% in terms of service time when compared to the conventional scheme.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number8922897
    Pages (from-to)1610-1621
    Number of pages12
    JournalIEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications
    Volume19
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020 Mar

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2002-2012 IEEE.

    Keywords

    • Free space optical communication (FSOC)
    • UAV-mounted FSOC
    • flight time maximization
    • trajectory design
    • wireless communications with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Computer Science Applications
    • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    • Applied Mathematics

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