Work

Jointly Elements Allocation and Trajectory Design for Optical RIS-Assisted UAV Communications in Low-Altitude Obstructed Environments

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) exhibit significant potential as mobile relays for establishing line-of-sight (LoS) links in free space optical (FSO) communications. However, providing reliable FSO communication to multiple users in obstructed environments remains a critical open problem. The integration of UAVs with optical reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (ORIS) further broadens the application prospects for FSO in multi-user environments with non-line-of-sight (NLoS) conditions. Therefore, this paper proposes an ORIS-assisted UAV relay system for FSO communications operating in obstructed low-altitude scenarios, aiming to provide services for multiple ground users. To maximize the average user throughput, a hungarian algorithm assisted proximal policy optimization (HA-PPO) method is proposed, which jointly optimizes ORIS elements allocation and UAV trajectory. Numerical simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach effectively plans UAV trajectories to avoid obstacles and maintain LoS links, while achieving higher average throughput than its counterparts.

Source: IEEE photonics journal

DOI: 10.1109/jphot.2026.3683112

Authors: Simeng Feng, Jinchao Qin, Chenyan Gao, Baolong Li, Wanting Wang, Qihui Wu

Institutions: Key Laboratory of Dynamic Cognitive System of Electromagnetic Spectrum Space, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology

Language: English

Topic: Optical Wireless Communication Technologies

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,075