Joint Power and Coverage Control of Massive UAVs in Post-Disaster Emergency Networks: An Aggregative Game-Theoretic Learning Approach

In the context of 6G, airborne post-disaster emergency networks (PENs) could be resilient in calamities and offer hope for disaster recovery in the underserved disaster zone. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)-enabled ad-hoc network is such a significant contingency plan for communication after natural disasters, such as typhoon and earthquake. Specially, we present possible technological solutions for PENs targets for counteracting any large-scale disasters to achieve efficient communication and rapid network deployment. To this end, in this paper we jointly take power and coverage control into account during the UAV network configuration. An innovative noncooperative game theoretical model and improved binary log-linear algorithm (BLLA) have been adopted to achieve the optimal system performance. To deal with the challenges brought by highly dynamic post-disaster circumstances, we employ the aggregative game which is able to capture the strategies updating constraint and strategy-deciding error in large-scale UAV networks. Moreover, we propose a novel synchronous payoff-based binary log-linear learning algorithm (SPBLLA) to lessen information exchange and hence reduce strategy updating time and energy consumption. Ultimately, the experiments indicate that, under the same strategy-deciding error rate, SPBLLA's learning rate is manifestly faster than that of the revised BLLA. Superior performance gains are seen in SNR and network coverage and hence render a great network solution in emergency scenarios.

I. Introduction

Catastrophic natural and man-made disasters, such as earthquakes, typhoons, and wars, usually involve great loss of life and/or properties in vast areas. Though sometimes unavoidable, the loss of life and property can be effectively reduced if proper post-disaster management approach has been taken. Because wireless coverage for ground users is quite essential for disaster management [1] and the telecommunication infrastructures can be vital for search and rescue missions after disasters [2], [3]. When these infrastructures are damaged by natural disasters, it is pivotal to have rapid wireless network deployment to recover the communication for accurate localization of the disaster affected population. Under such circumstances, it is highly demanded to deploy post-disaster emergency networks (PENs) to restore wireless connectivity in accident and/or incident areas. Essentially, considering that repairing communication infrastructures takes a long time, building vehicle relay networks was a preferable solution during the critical first 72 hours [4]. In such relay networks, vehicles are distributed in the post-disaster areas and act as communication infrastructures, supporting mission-critical and emergency communications. However, vehicles are likely barricaded by damaged roads, torrential rivers, and precipices, etc, in the vast areas. Faced with those challenges, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) ad-hoc networks become a good alternative for emergency response due to its numerous advantages such as quick deployment and resilience in large-scale harsh networking conditions [5], [6].