Lyapunov-Based Energy-Efficient Path Diversity for Data Transmissions in UAV Networks

In the UAV network with unstable channel conditions compared to the stationary network, delay-tolerant data transmission from a source node to a destination node is important. To make data be successfully received at the destination within a certain time threshold, the same data can be transmitted through multiple routing paths to increase path diversity. However, an increase in path diversity also increases the power consumption of relay UAVs. In this letter, we propose a Lyapunov-based energy-efficient path diversity method for data transmissions in UAV networks. In the proposed method, the delay robustness according to the path diversity is calculated, and then the trade-off relation between path diversity and power consumption is derived based on Lyapunov drift-plus-penalty approach. By minimizing the derived drift-plus-penalty term, the proposed multi-path transmission method provides delay-tolerant data transmissions with acceptable power consumption in UAV networks.