Autonomous Vision-Aided UAV Positioning for Obstacle-Aware Wireless Connectivity

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Shafafi, Kamran, Ricardo, Manuel, Campos, Rui
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Shafafi, Kamran
Ricardo, Manuel
Campos, Rui
author_facet Shafafi, Kamran
Ricardo, Manuel
Campos, Rui
contents Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) offer a promising solution for enhancing wireless connectivity and Quality of Service (QoS) in urban environments, acting as aerial Wi-Fi access points or cellular base stations. Their flexibility and rapid deployment capabilities make them suitable for addressing infrastructure gaps and traffic surges. However, optimizing UAV positions to maintain Line of Sight (LoS) links with ground User Equipment (UEs) remains challenging in obstacle-dense urban scenarios. This paper proposes VTOPA, a Vision-Aided Traffic- and Obstacle-Aware Positioning Algorithm that autonomously extracts environmental information -- such as obstacles and UE locations -- via computer vision and optimizes UAV positioning accordingly. The algorithm prioritizes LoS connectivity and dynamically adapts to user traffic demands in real time. Evaluated through simulations in ns-3, VTOPA achieves up to a 50% increase in aggregate throughput and a 50% reduction in delay, without compromising fairness, outperforming benchmark approaches in obstacle-rich environments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_23190
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Autonomous Vision-Aided UAV Positioning for Obstacle-Aware Wireless Connectivity
Shafafi, Kamran
Ricardo, Manuel
Campos, Rui
Networking and Internet Architecture
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) offer a promising solution for enhancing wireless connectivity and Quality of Service (QoS) in urban environments, acting as aerial Wi-Fi access points or cellular base stations. Their flexibility and rapid deployment capabilities make them suitable for addressing infrastructure gaps and traffic surges. However, optimizing UAV positions to maintain Line of Sight (LoS) links with ground User Equipment (UEs) remains challenging in obstacle-dense urban scenarios. This paper proposes VTOPA, a Vision-Aided Traffic- and Obstacle-Aware Positioning Algorithm that autonomously extracts environmental information -- such as obstacles and UE locations -- via computer vision and optimizes UAV positioning accordingly. The algorithm prioritizes LoS connectivity and dynamically adapts to user traffic demands in real time. Evaluated through simulations in ns-3, VTOPA achieves up to a 50% increase in aggregate throughput and a 50% reduction in delay, without compromising fairness, outperforming benchmark approaches in obstacle-rich environments.
title Autonomous Vision-Aided UAV Positioning for Obstacle-Aware Wireless Connectivity
topic Networking and Internet Architecture
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.23190