System Trade-offs in Multi-UAV Networks

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) networks are used in a variety of missions such as surveillance, law enforcement, agricultural, search and rescue, and payload delivery. However, creating a UAV network requires flexible integration of multiple, potentially heterogeneous UAVs and conducting in-depth trade-off during system design. UAV networks typically operate in an open environment susceptible to disruptions. Thus, system resilience is a highly desirable system attribute. In this regard, trade-off analysis is central to designing such complex networked system with multiple, occasionally conflicting, requirements. To design such a network of UAVs, an organizing framework is needed to manage the trade-off space (or tradespace, for short) of multiple system attributes. This paper presents an illustrative example of how trade-offs can be identified and subsequently conducted in a systematic fashion.