Work

Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithm with Long Short-Term Memory Network for Optimizing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Information Transmission

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: The optimization of information transmission in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is essential for enhancing their operational efficiency across various applications. This issue is framed as a mixed-integer nonconvex optimization challenge, which traditional optimization algorithms and reinforcement learning (RL) methods often struggle to address effectively. In this paper, we propose a novel deep reinforcement learning algorithm that utilizes a hybrid discrete–continuous action space. To address the long-term dependency issues inherent in UAV operations, we incorporate a long short-term memory (LSTM) network. Our approach accounts for the specific flight constraints of fixed-wing UAVs and employs a continuous policy network to facilitate real-time flight path planning. A non-sparse reward function is designed to maximize data collection from internet of things (IoT) devices, thus guiding the UAV to optimize its operational efficiency. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm yields near-optimal flight paths and significantly improves data collection capabilities, compared to conventional heuristic methods, achieving an improvement of up to 10.76%. Validation through simulations confirms the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed approach in real-world scenarios.

Source: Mathematics

DOI: 10.3390/math13010046

Authors: Yufei He, Ruiqi Hu, Kewei Liang, Yonghong Liu, Zhiyuan Zhou

Institutions: Zhejiang University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University

Language: English

Topic: UAV Applications and Optimization

Subfield: Aerospace Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,955