Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Cooperative Cluster-Based Data Collection for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

In recent times,sixth generation(6G)communication technologies have become a hot research topic because of maximum throughput and low delay services for mobile users.It encompasses several heterogeneous resource and communication standard in ensuring incessant availability of service.At the same time,the development of 6G enables the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs)in offering cost and time-efficient solution to several applications like healthcare,surveillance,disaster management,etc.In UAV networks,energy efficiency and data collection are considered the major process for high quality network communication.But these procedures are found to be challenging because of maximum mobility,unstable links,dynamic topology,and energy restricted UAVs.These issues are solved by the use of artificial intelligence(AI)and energy efficient clustering techniques for UAVs in the 6G environment.With this inspiration,this work designs an artificial intelligence enabled cooperative cluster-based data collection technique for unmanned aerial vehicles(AECCDC-UAV)in 6G environment.The proposed AECCDC-UAV technique purposes for dividing the UAV network as to different clusters and allocate a cluster head(CH)to each cluster in such a way that the energy consumption(ECM)gets minimized.The presented AECCDC-UAV technique involves a quasi-oppositional shuffled shepherd optimization(QOSSO)algorithm for selecting the CHs and construct clusters.The QOSSO algorithm derives a fitness function involving three input parameters residual energy of UAVs,distance to neighboring UAVs,and degree of UAVs.The performance of the AECCDC-UAV technique is validated in many aspects and the obtained experimental values demonstration promising results over the recent state of art methods.

Flight Time Minimization of UAV for Cooperative Data Collection in Probabilistic LoS Channel

This paper investigates the data collection in an unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)-aided Internet of Things(IoT) network, where a UAV is dispatched to collect data from ground sensors in a practical and accurate probabilistic line-of-sight(LoS) channel. Especially, access points(APs) are introduced to collect data from some sensors in the unlicensed band to improve data collection efficiency. We formulate a mixed-integer non-convex optimization problem to minimize the UAV flight time by jointly designing the UAV 3D trajectory and sensors’ scheduling, while ensuring the required amount of data can be collected under the limited UAV energy. To solve this nonconvex problem, we recast the objective problem into a tractable form. Then, the problem is further divided into several sub-problems to solve iteratively, and the successive convex approximation(SCA) scheme is applied to solve each non-convex subproblem. Finally,the bisection search is adopted to speed up the searching for the minimum UAV flight time. Simulation results verify that the UAV flight time can be shortened by the proposed method effectively.

Actor-Critic-Based UAV-Assisted Data Collection in the Wireless Sensor Network

Wireless Sensor Network(WSN)is widely utilized in large-scale distributed unmanned detection scenarios due to its low cost and flexible installation.However,WSN data collection encounters challenges in scenarios lacking communication infrastructure.Unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)offers a novel solution for WSN data collection,leveraging their high mobility.In this paper,we present an efficient UAV-assisted data collection algorithm aimed at minimizing the overall power consumption of the WSN.Firstly,a two-layer UAV-assisted data collection model is introduced,including the ground and aerial layers.The ground layer senses the environmental data by the cluster members(CMs),and the CMs transmit the data to the cluster heads(CHs),which forward the collected data to the UAVs.The aerial network layer consists of multiple UAVs that collect,store,and forward data from the CHs to the data center for analysis.Secondly,an improved clustering algorithm based on K-Means++is proposed to optimize the number and locations of CHs.Moreover,an Actor-Critic based algorithm is introduced to optimize the UAV deployment and the association with CHs.Finally,simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.

Coati Optimization-Based Energy Efficient Routing Protocol for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Communication

With the flexible deployment and high mobility of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs)in an open environment,they have generated con-siderable attention in military and civil applications intending to enable ubiquitous connectivity and foster agile communications.The difficulty stems from features other than mobile ad-hoc network(MANET),namely aerial mobility in three-dimensional space and often changing topology.In the UAV network,a single node serves as a forwarding,transmitting,and receiving node at the same time.Typically,the communication path is multi-hop,and routing significantly affects the network’s performance.A lot of effort should be invested in performance analysis for selecting the optimum routing system.With this motivation,this study modelled a new Coati Optimization Algorithm-based Energy-Efficient Routing Process for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Communication(COAER-UAVC)technique.The presented COAER-UAVC technique establishes effective routes for communication between the UAVs.It is primarily based on the coati characteristics in nature:if attacking and hunting iguanas and escaping from predators.Besides,the presented COAER-UAVC technique concentrates on the design of fitness functions to minimize energy utilization and communication delay.A varied group of simulations was performed to depict the optimum performance of the COAER-UAVC system.The experimental results verified that the COAER-UAVC technique had assured improved performance over other approaches.

A Data-Driven Adaptive Method for Attitude Control of Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

In this paper, a real-time online data-driven adaptive method is developed to deal with uncertainties such as high nonlinearity, strong coupling, parameter perturbation and external disturbances in attitude control of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Firstly, a model-free adaptive control (MFAC) method requiring only input/output (I/O) data and no model information is adopted for control scheme design of angular velocity subsystem which contains all model information and up-mentioned uncertainties. Secondly, the internal model control (IMC) method featured with less tuning parameters and convenient tuning process is adopted for control scheme design of the certain Euler angle subsystem. Simulation results show that, the method developed is obviously superior to the cascade PID (CPID) method and the nonlinear dynamic inversion (NDI) method.

Road Traffic Monitoring from Aerial Images Using Template Matching and Invariant Features

Road traffic monitoring is an imperative topic widely discussed among researchers.Systems used to monitor traffic frequently rely on cameras mounted on bridges or roadsides.However,aerial images provide the flexibility to use mobile platforms to detect the location and motion of the vehicle over a larger area.To this end,different models have shown the ability to recognize and track vehicles.However,these methods are not mature enough to produce accurate results in complex road scenes.Therefore,this paper presents an algorithm that combines state-of-the-art techniques for identifying and tracking vehicles in conjunction with image bursts.The extracted frames were converted to grayscale,followed by the application of a georeferencing algorithm to embed coordinate information into the images.The masking technique eliminated irrelevant data and reduced the computational cost of the overall monitoring system.Next,Sobel edge detection combined with Canny edge detection and Hough line transform has been applied for noise reduction.After preprocessing,the blob detection algorithm helped detect the vehicles.Vehicles of varying sizes have been detected by implementing a dynamic thresholding scheme.Detection was done on the first image of every burst.Then,to track vehicles,the model of each vehicle was made to find its matches in the succeeding images using the template matching algorithm.To further improve the tracking accuracy by incorporating motion information,Scale Invariant Feature Transform(SIFT)features have been used to find the best possible match among multiple matches.An accuracy rate of 87%for detection and 80%accuracy for tracking in the A1 Motorway Netherland dataset has been achieved.For the Vehicle Aerial Imaging from Drone(VAID)dataset,an accuracy rate of 86%for detection and 78%accuracy for tracking has been achieved.

Autonomous UAV 3D trajectory optimization and transmission scheduling for sensor data collection on uneven terrains

This paper considers a time-constrained data collection problem from a network of ground sensors located on uneven terrain by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV),a typical Unmanned Aerial System(UAS).The ground sensors harvest renewable energy and are equipped with batteries and data buffers.The ground sensor model takes into account sensor data buffer and battery limitations.An asymptotically globally optimal method of joint UAV 3D trajectory optimization and data transmission schedule is developed.The developed method maximizes the amount of data transmitted to the UAV without losses and too long delays and minimizes the propulsion energy of the UAV.The developed algorithm of optimal trajectory optimization and transmission scheduling is based on dynamic programming.Computer simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Joint UAV 3D deployment and sensor power allocation for energy-efficient and secure data collection

Unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) are advantageous for data collection in wireless sensor networks(WSNs) due to its low cost of use,flexible deployment,controllable mobility,etc. However,how to cope with the inherent issues of energy limitation and data security in the WSNs is challenging in such an application paradigm. To this end,based on the framework of physical layer security,an optimization problem for maximizing secrecy energy efficiency(EE) of data collection is formulated,which focuses on optimizing the UAV’s positions and the sensors’ transmit power. To overcome the difficulties in solving the optimization problem,the methods of fractional programming and successive convex approximation are then adopted to gradually transform the original problem into a series of tractable subproblems which are solved in an iterative manner. As shown in simulation results,by the joint designs in the spatial domain of UAV and the power domain of sensors,the proposed algorithm achieves a significant improvement of secrecy EE and rate.

A landslide monitoring method using data from unmanned aerial vehicle and terrestrial laser scanning with insufficient and inaccurate ground control points

Non-contact remote sensing techniques,such as terrestrial laser scanning(TLS)and unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)photogrammetry,have been globally applied for landslide monitoring in high and steep mountainous areas.These techniques acquire terrain data and enable ground deformation monitoring.However,practical application of these technologies still faces many difficulties due to complex terrain,limited access and dense vegetation.For instance,monitoring high and steep slopes can obstruct the TLS sightline,and the accuracy of the UAV model may be compromised by absence of ground control points(GCPs).This paper proposes a TLS-and UAV-based method for monitoring landslide deformation in high mountain valleys using traditional real-time kinematics(RTK)-based control points(RCPs),low-precision TLS-based control points(TCPs)and assumed control points(ACPs)to achieve high-precision surface deformation analysis under obstructed vision and impassable conditions.The effects of GCP accuracy,GCP quantity and automatic tie point(ATP)quantity on the accuracy of UAV modeling and surface deformation analysis were comprehensively analyzed.The results show that,the proposed method allows for the monitoring accuracy of landslides to exceed the accuracy of the GCPs themselves by adding additional low-accuracy GCPs.The proposed method was implemented for monitoring the Xinhua landslide in Baoxing County,China,and was validated against data from multiple sources.

Energy Aware Data Collection with Route Planning for 6G Enabled UAV Communication

With technological advancements in 6G and Internet of Things(IoT), the incorporation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and cellularnetworks has become a hot research topic. At present, the proficient evolution of 6G networks allows the UAVs to offer cost-effective and timelysolutions for real-time applications such as medicine, tracking, surveillance,etc. Energy efficiency, data collection, and route planning are crucial processesto improve the network communication. These processes are highly difficultowing to high mobility, presence of non-stationary links, dynamic topology,and energy-restricted UAVs. With this motivation, the current research paperpresents a novel Energy Aware Data Collection with Routing Planning for6G-enabled UAV communication (EADCRP-6G) technique. The goal of theproposed EADCRP-6G technique is to conduct energy-efficient cluster-baseddata collection and optimal route planning for 6G-enabled UAV networks.EADCRP-6G technique deploys Improved Red Deer Algorithm-based Clustering (IRDAC) technique to elect an optimal set of Cluster Heads (CH) andorganize these clusters. Besides, Artificial Fish Swarm-based Route Planning(AFSRP) technique is applied to choose an optimum set of routes for UAVcommunication in 6G networks. In order to validated whether the proposedEADCRP-6G technique enhances the performance, a series of simulationswas performed and the outcomes were investigated under different dimensions.The experimental results showcase that the proposed model outperformed allother existing models under different evaluation parameters.

UAV trajectory planning algorithmfor data collection in wireless sensor networks

In order to maximize the value of information(VoI)of collected data in unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)-aided wireless sensor networks(WSNs),a UAV trajectory planning algorithm named maximum VoI first and successive convex approximation(MVF-SCA)is proposed.First,the Rician channel model is adopted in the system and sensor nodes(SNs)are divided into key nodes and common nodes.Secondly,the data collection problem is formulated as a mixed integer non-linear program(MINLP)problem.The problem is divided into two sub-problems according to the different types of SNs to seek a sub-optimal solution with a low complexity.Finally,the MVF-SCA algorithm for UAV trajectory planning is proposed,which can not only be used for daily data collection in the target area,but also collect time-sensitive abnormal data in time when the exception occurs.Simulation results show that,compared with the existing classic traveling salesman problem(TSP)algorithm and greedy path planning algorithm,the VoI collected by the proposed algorithm can be improved by about 15%to 30%.

A survey of unmanned aerial vehicle flight data anomaly detection:Technologies,applications,and future directions

Flight data anomaly detection plays an imperative role in the safety and maintenance of unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs).It has attracted extensive attention from researchers.However,the problems related to the difficulty in obtaining abnormal data,low model accuracy,and high calculation cost have led to severe challenges with respect to its practical applications.Hence,in this study,firstly,several UAV flight data simulation softwares are presented based on a brief presentation of the basic concepts of anomalies,the contents of UAV flight data,and the public datasets for flight data anomaly detection.Then,anomaly detection technologies for UAV flight data are comprehensively reviewed,including knowledge-based,model-based,and data-driven methods.Next,UAV flight data anomaly detection applications are briefly described and analyzed.Finally,the future trends and directions of UAV flight data anomaly detection are summarized and prospected,which aims to provide references for the following research.

Enhancement of UAV Data Security and Privacy via Ethereum Blockchain Technology

Unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs),or drones,have revolutionized a wide range of industries,including monitoring,agriculture,surveillance,and supply chain.However,their widespread use also poses significant challenges,such as public safety,privacy,and cybersecurity.Cyberattacks,targetingUAVs have become more frequent,which highlights the need for robust security solutions.Blockchain technology,the foundation of cryptocurrencies has the potential to address these challenges.This study suggests a platform that utilizes blockchain technology tomanage drone operations securely and confidentially.By incorporating blockchain technology,the proposed method aims to increase the security and privacy of drone data.The suggested platform stores information on a public blockchain located on Ethereum and leverages the Ganache platform to ensure secure and private blockchain transactions.TheMetaMask wallet for Ethbalance is necessary for BCT transactions.The present research finding shows that the proposed approach’s efficiency and security features are superior to existing methods.This study contributes to the development of a secure and efficient system for managing drone operations that could have significant applications in various industries.The proposed platform’s security measures could mitigate privacy concerns,minimize cyber security risk,and enhance public safety,ultimately promoting the widespread adoption of UAVs.The results of the study demonstrate that the blockchain can ensure the fulfillment of core security needs such as authentication,privacy preservation,confidentiality,integrity,and access control.

Blockchain-Based Data Acquisition with Privacy Protection in UAV Cluster Network

The unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)self-organizing network is composed of multiple UAVs with autonomous capabilities according to a certain structure and scale,which can quickly and accurately complete complex tasks such as path planning,situational awareness,and information transmission.Due to the openness of the network,the UAV cluster is more vulnerable to passive eavesdropping,active interference,and other attacks,which makes the system face serious security threats.This paper proposes a Blockchain-Based Data Acquisition(BDA)scheme with privacy protection to address the data privacy and identity authentication problems in the UAV-assisted data acquisition scenario.Each UAV cluster has an aggregate unmanned aerial vehicle(AGV)that can batch-verify the acquisition reports within its administrative domain.After successful verification,AGV adds its signcrypted ciphertext to the aggregation and uploads it to the blockchain for storage.There are two chains in the blockchain that store the public key information of registered entities and the aggregated reports,respectively.The security analysis shows that theBDAconstruction can protect the privacy and authenticity of acquisition data,and effectively resist a malicious key generation center and the public-key substitution attack.It also provides unforgeability to acquisition reports under the Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem(ECDLP)assumption.The performance analysis demonstrates that compared with other schemes,the proposed BDA construction has lower computational complexity and is more suitable for the UAV cluster network with limited computing power and storage capacity.

一种面向多任务的无人机辅助的通信网络资源分配与轨迹优化研究

装载各种有效荷载的无人机(UAV)能够实现传感、通信和计算等多任务,因而常被部署到数据采集(DA)和辅助计算等领域。但是到目前为止,绝大多数研究仅专注于单一功能的无人机辅助的通信网络资源分配与轨迹优化,对于面向多任务的资源分配和轨迹优化问题还未解决。为此,该文提出一种综合考虑无人机数据采集、数据广播以及计算任务卸载的无人机辅助的通信网络资源优化的分配策略,旨在通过联合优化传输占空比、用户发射功率与无人机轨迹,在满足目标位置采集数据实时广播的前提下,最大化用户卸载量。为了解决多变量耦合优化问题,提出了基于块坐标下降(BCD)和连续凸逼近(SCA)的高效迭代优化算法,将耦合优化问题分解为3个子问题进行迭代优化。最后,大量仿真结果表明,该算法在公平性和总卸载计算量方面都优于其他测试方案。

支持无线采能及簇间负载均衡的无人机辅助数据调度及轨迹优化算法

该文研究了无人机(UAV)辅助无线传感器网络的数据收集问题。首先提出基于均值漂移算法的传感器节点(SN)初始分簇策略,进而以簇间负载均衡为目标,设计SN切换算法。基于所得成簇策略,将UAV数据收集及轨迹规划问题建模为系统能耗最小化问题。由于该问题是一个非凸问题,难以直接求解,将其分为两个子问题,即数据调度子问题及UAV轨迹规划子问题。针对数据调度子问题,提出一种基于多时隙库恩-蒙克雷斯算法的时频资源调度策略。针对UAV轨迹规划子问题,将其建模为马尔可夫决策过程,并提出一种基于深度Q网络的UAV轨迹规划算法。仿真结果验证了所提算法的有效性。

中国民用无人驾驶航空器监管立法之完善

随着民用无人驾驶航空器技术的迅猛发展及其广泛应用,现有法律法规已难以全面覆盖和有效管理这一新兴领域。通过对当前民用无人驾驶航空器监管的立法现状进行梳理,分析当前民用无人驾驶航空器监管立法中存在的主要问题,在此基础上,提出具体的监管立法完善建议,如加强立法规划、制定专门规制民用无人驾驶航空器的法律、强化技术标准、明确各方责任、增加隐私权保护和数据安全方面的立法。通过这些措施,旨在构建一个全面、科学的民用无人驾驶航空器监管法律体系,为民用无人驾驶航空器产业的健康有序发展提供坚实的法律保障。

基于数据融合的无人机影像碎屑岩岩性识别

不同类型岩性影像纹理相似性高,基于单一的二维影像进行岩性识别精度较低。针对这一问题,开展了顾及影像深度信息的岩性智能识别方法研究。利用无人机影像具有多模态的特性,采用通道叠加、IHS(intensity,hue,saturation)变换、小波变换以及多模态融合4种影像融合方式,将深度信息融入影像数据中,运用深度卷积神经网络DeepLabv3+进行碎屑岩岩性识别。经人工解译结果对比分析,结果表明:实验区内基于多模态融合影像的岩性识别精度最高,Kappa系数可达76.17%,总体识别精度可提升到91.05%;分析认为,顾及影像深度信息的岩性智能识别方法针对岩层表面不平整,高差落差大的砾岩识别效果有明显提升,但表面平整、高差表现不明显的泥岩和砂岩地层识别效果有待提升。研究成果为野外碎屑岩露头岩性快速识别提供了新思路。

基于VAE-LSTM模型的无人机飞行数据异常检测

无人机飞行数据是反映其自身飞行安全的重要状态参数,通过对飞行数据进行异常检测,是提高无人机整体飞行安全性的关键举措。尽管基于数据驱动方法不需专家先验知识和精确的物理模型,但缺乏参数选择且检测网络结构模型单一,使得检测模型由于参数过多导致过拟合以及无法有效捕捉数据异常模式的问题。文中结合变分自编码器和长短期记忆网络的优势,提出了一种基于VAE-LSTM的无人机飞行数据异常检测模型方法。首先,引入肯德尔相关性分析方法用于选择相关依赖的飞行数据参数集;其次,将具有相关性的参数集对所设计的VAE-LSTM深度混合模型进行训练,学习不同数据特征之间的关系映射;最后,以无监督异常检测方式在真实多维无人机飞行数据进行验证。实验结果表明,VAE-LSTM的精密度、检测率、准确率、F1分数及误检率的各项平均性能指标分别达到95.24%、98.71%、98.8%、96.82%、1.31%,相比于KNN、OC-SVM、VAE、LSTM模型,整体上展现出较好异常检测性能。

信息收集中无人机节能轨迹设计与资源优化

为优化无线传感器网络(wireless sensor networks,WSN)中无人机(unmanned aerial vehicle,UAV)辅助信息收集系统的能量消耗,在综合考虑无人机飞行能耗和传感器节点上行数据传输能耗的基础上,提出了一种考虑链路间干扰的无人机轨迹和传感器功率分配联合优化算法。首先,基于实际约束构建了系统能耗最小化问题模型;然后,针对多约束优化问题的非凸性特征,采用块坐标下降法(block coordinate descent,BCD)将系统能耗最小化问题分解为固定无人机轨迹下的功率分配和固定功率分配下的无人机轨迹优化两个子问题,根据子问题的数学特征,采用凸近似法将非凸问题转化成可以求解的近似凸优化问题,通过对两个子问题的交替迭代优化,得到原非凸问题的近似次优解;最后,通过仿真实验验证了所提算法的可行性和有效性。结果表明:所提算法最大可使系统能量消耗降低22%,明显优于对比算法;且随着传感器节点数量的增加,所提算法的优势更加明显。研究结果为WSN中的信息收集提供了一种系统能耗优化思路,即在有限提高无人机飞行能耗的基础上,有效降低系统的能量消耗。