Molecular geometry inspired positioning for aerial networks

The advances in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and wireless sensor technology made it possible to deploy aerial networks and to collect information in three dimensional (3D) space. These aerial networks enable high quality observation of events as multiple UAVs coordinate and communicate for data collection. The positioning of UAVs in aerial networks is critical for effective coverage of the environment and data collection. UAV systems have their characteristic constraints for node positioning such as dynamic topology changes or heterogeneous network structure. The positioning methods for two dimensional (2D) scenarios cannot be used for aerial networks since these approaches become NP-hard in 3D space. In this paper, we propose a node positioning strategy for UAV networks. We propose a wireless sensor and actor network structure according to different capabilities of the nodes in the network. The positioning algorithm utilizes the Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) theory of chemistry, which is based on the correlation between molecular geometry and the number of atoms in a molecule. By using the rules of VSEPR theory, the actor nodes in the proposed approach use a lightweight and distributed algorithm to form a self organizing network around a central UAV, which has the role of the sink. The limitations of the basic VSEPR theory are eliminated by extending the approach for multiple central data collectors. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed system provides high connectivity and coverage for the aerial sensor and actor network.