Multi-UAV Deployment in Obstacle-Cluttered Environments with LOS Connectivity
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866909710744027136 |
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| author | Chen, Yuda Wang, Shuaikang Li, Jie Guo, Meng |
| author_facet | Chen, Yuda Wang, Shuaikang Li, Jie Guo, Meng |
| contents | A reliable communication network is essential for multiple UAVs operating within obstacle-cluttered environments, where limited communication due to obstructions often occurs. A common solution is to deploy intermediate UAVs to relay information via a multi-hop network, which introduces two challenges: (i) how to design the structure of multihop networks; and (ii) how to maintain connectivity during collaborative motion. To this end, this work first proposes an efficient constrained search method based on the minimumedge RRT? algorithm, to find a spanning-tree topology that requires a less number of UAVs for the deployment task. Then, to achieve this deployment, a distributed model predictive control strategy is proposed for the online motion coordination. It explicitly incorporates not only the inter-UAV and UAVobstacle distance constraints, but also the line-of-sight (LOS) connectivity constraint. These constraints are well-known to be nonlinear and often tackled by various approximations. In contrast, this work provides a theoretical guarantee that all agent trajectories are ensured to be collision-free with a teamwise LOS connectivity at all time. Numerous simulations are performed in 3D valley-like environments, while hardware experiments validate its dynamic adaptation when the deployment position changes online. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_21772 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Multi-UAV Deployment in Obstacle-Cluttered Environments with LOS Connectivity Chen, Yuda Wang, Shuaikang Li, Jie Guo, Meng Robotics A reliable communication network is essential for multiple UAVs operating within obstacle-cluttered environments, where limited communication due to obstructions often occurs. A common solution is to deploy intermediate UAVs to relay information via a multi-hop network, which introduces two challenges: (i) how to design the structure of multihop networks; and (ii) how to maintain connectivity during collaborative motion. To this end, this work first proposes an efficient constrained search method based on the minimumedge RRT? algorithm, to find a spanning-tree topology that requires a less number of UAVs for the deployment task. Then, to achieve this deployment, a distributed model predictive control strategy is proposed for the online motion coordination. It explicitly incorporates not only the inter-UAV and UAVobstacle distance constraints, but also the line-of-sight (LOS) connectivity constraint. These constraints are well-known to be nonlinear and often tackled by various approximations. In contrast, this work provides a theoretical guarantee that all agent trajectories are ensured to be collision-free with a teamwise LOS connectivity at all time. Numerous simulations are performed in 3D valley-like environments, while hardware experiments validate its dynamic adaptation when the deployment position changes online. |
| title | Multi-UAV Deployment in Obstacle-Cluttered Environments with LOS Connectivity |
| topic | Robotics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.21772 |