UAV positioning for throughput maximization

The throughput of a communication system depends on the offered traffic load and the available capacity to support that load. When an unmanned aerial verhicle (UAV) is responsible for providing the communication service to users within its transmission range, the position of the UAV determines how much capacity each user gets. The closer the UAV to a user, the greater the capacity that the user gets. For a given set of user traffic demands and user locations, it is possible to maximize the total throughput by optimally positioning the UAV. This paper presents two methods, a heuristic method and an approximation algorithm, for determining the UAV position that maximizes the overall system throughput. This paper also considers a related problem of keeping all users within the transmission range while determining the UAV position that maximizes throughput. The proposed schemes were evaluated with extensive simulations using MATLAB and the ns-2 simulator. The results show that significant throughput enhancement is possible by optimally positioning the UAV when user positions are unevenly distributed and/or data rate demands are widely spread.