Online Trajectory Planning with Application to an UAV Relay Station

This paper presents a new online trajectory planning method for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) acting as an aerial base station for the communication relay between moving ground vehicles, which have different quality-of-service (QoS) requirements. The ground vehicles follow locally planned trajectories, which are communicated to the aerial base station. The UAV possesses a network estimator, which determines the channel properties between the UAV and each ground vehicle and a trajectory planning unit, which changes the UAV trajectory online whenever the estimated QoS violates the requirements. The aim is to keep all individual requirements of the vehicles fulfilled during their movement. In contrast to literature, the method adjusts the UAV trajectory online to ensure the communication relay to moving vehicles with different QoS requirements. The effectiveness of the method is shown in two simulation scenarios.