Research on UAV access deployment algorithm based on improved virtual force model

In this paper, a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) access deployment algorithm is proposed, which is based on an improved virtual force model to solve the poor coverage quality of UAVs caused by limited number of UAVs and random mobility of users in the deployment process of UAV base station. First, the UAV-adapted Harris Hawks optimization (U-AHHO) algorithm is proposed to maximize the coverage of users in a given hotspot. Then, a virtual force improvement model based on user perception (UP-VFIM) is constructed to sense the mobile trend of mobile users. Finally, a UAV motion algorithm based on multi-virtual force sharing (U-MVFS) is proposed to improve the ability of UAVs to perceive the moving trend of user equipments (UEs). The UAV independently controls its movement and provides follow-up services for mobile UEs in the hotspot by computing the virtual force it receives over a specific period. Simulation results show that compared with the greedy-grid algorithm with different spacing, the average service rate of UEs of the U-AHHO algorithm is increased by 2.6% to 35.3% on average. Compared with the baseline scheme, using UP-VFIM and U-MVFS algorithms at the same time increases the average of 34.5% to 67.9% and 9.82% to 43.62% under different UE numbers and moving speeds, respectively. Keywords: UAV deployment, virtual force, Harris Hawks optimization algorithm, user perception