Optimization of beamforming and path planning for UAV-assisted wireless relay networks

Recently, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) acting as relay platforms have attracted considerable attention due to the advantages of extending coverage and improving connectivity for long-range communications. Specifically, in the scenario where the access point (AP) is mobile, a UAV needs to find an efficient path to guarantee the connectivity of the relay link. Motivated by this fact, this paper proposes an optimal design for beamforming (BF) and UAV path planning. First of all, we study a dual-hop amplify-and-forward (AF) wireless relay network, in which a UAV is used as relay between a mobile AP and a fixed base station (BS). In the network, both of the AP and the BS are equipped with multiple antennas, whereas the UAV has a single antenna. Then, we obtain the output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the dual-hop relay network. Based on the criterion of maximizing the output SNR, we develop an optimal design to obtain the solution of the optimal BF weight vector and the UAV heading angle. Next, we derive the closed-form outage probability (OP) expression to investigate the performance of the dual-hop relay network conveniently. Finally, computer simulations show that the proposed approach can obtain nearly optimal flying path and OP performance, indicating the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Furthermore, we find that increasing the antenna number at the BS or the maximal heading angle can significantly improve the performance of the considered relay network.