Linear models for total coverage problem with connectivity constraints using multiple unmanned aerial vehicles

Abstract

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has recently increased both in civilian and military operations, and the planning of their routes is critical. This research investigates a routing problem in which a UAV network, equipped with sensors, covers a given area and maintains connectivity with its neighbouring UAVs and the base station, while respecting to the UAVs lifetime. To cover the area, two integer linear programming models are formulated to solve two problems optimally. In the first one, covering means that all positions should be visited. However, in the second one, covering means that every position should be covered at least by one UAV. Due to the limited communication radius of the UAVs, connectivity then has to find inter-UAVs routing paths to satisfy the communication between UAVs and the base. We verify by experiments that the models, using Cplex, can provide an optimal solution of different area dimensions.