Abstract
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been regarded as a promising means to reshape future wireless communication systems. In this paper, we consider how to plan the trajectory of a solar-powered UAV under a cloudy condition to secure the communication between the UAV and a target ground node against multiple eavesdroppers. We propose a new 3D UAV trajectory optimization model by taking into account the UAV energy consumption, solar power harvesting, eavesdropping and no-fly zone avoidance. A Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (RRT) method is developed to construct the UAV trajectory. Computer simulations and comparisons with a baseline method demonstrate that the proposed method is able to produce trajectories to ensure the valid wireless communication link with the ground node and prevent eavesdropping.
Highlights
With rapidly growing demand for energy and decreasing fossil fuel reserves, renewable energy has attracted great of attention worldwide in the last few decades
Solar power is an important source of renewable energy, and various solar-powered products have become part of our daily-life, such as solar-powered cars [1] and solar-powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) [2]
We propose a scheme to plan the UAV trajectory based on Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (RRT)
Summary
With rapidly growing demand for energy and decreasing fossil fuel reserves, renewable energy has attracted great of attention worldwide in the last few decades. This paper considers using a solar-powered UAV to secure wireless communications with a ground node in the presence of collaborative eavesdroppers. We propose a new optimization model to minimize the energy expenditure of a UAV with a solar-powered rechargeable battery, while securing communications between the UAV and a ground node, avoiding no-fly zones, satisfying the aeronautic maneuverability and preventing depletion of the battery. This is a realistic problem but needs a nonconvex optimization technique, as the solar power is non-smooth and the UAV dynamic model is non-linear.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call