Joint Trajectory and Pick-Up Design for UAV-Assisted Item Delivery Under No-Fly Zone Constraints

Abstract

This paper explores an item delivery scenario using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In this scenario, in the presence of multiple no-fly zones, an UAV starts from the point of departure, collects the items from ground users, and finally delivers the collected items to the destination. We mathematically characterize the item delivery scenario. Then, we formulate a problem of item value maximization to jointly optimize the UAV trajectory and item pick-up design. The formulated problem is a challenging mixed-integer non-convex optimization problem. Through some equivalent transformations, we convert the original problem into an equivalent problem with a difference-of-convex structure. Using the penalty convex-concave procedure method, we devise a low-complexity algorithm with promising performance. The numerical results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm.