Communication structures
In some examples, a method for determining a communication structure to communicatively link a set of delivery unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs, with a base unit, the communication structure defined by a minimum number of communication UAVs positioned relative to a set of delivery routes of the delivery UAVs at multiple transitory static positions, wherein a communication UAV at a transitory static position supports a communication region, comprises determining a subset of delivery UAVs outside of a communication region of a first communication UAV at a first transitory static position, the subset of delivery UAVs representing a number of unsupported delivery UAVs that are not communicatively linked, via the first communication UAV, to the base unit supplementing the number of communication UAVs with a second communication UAV, and selecting a second transitory static position for the second communication UAV, the second transitory static position minimising a metric representing a number of unsupported delivery UAVs.
1. A method for determining a communication structure to communicatively link a set of delivery unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs, with a base unit, the communication structure defined by a minimum number of communication UAVs positioned relative to a set of delivery routes of the delivery UAVs at multiple transitory static positions, wherein a communication UAV at a transitory static position supports a communication region, the method comprising:
determining a subset of delivery UAVs outside of a communication region of each communication UAV in a set of communication UAVs at respective first transitory static positions as the delivery UAVs travel along their respective delivery routes, the subset of delivery UAVs representing a number of unsupported delivery UAVs that are not communicatively linked, via a communication UAV, to the base unit;
grouping the unsupported delivery UAVs into one or more clusters defined by a maximum intra-cluster distance related to a communication region; and
selecting a second transitory static position for at least one of a communication UAV in the set of communication UAVs, respectively, the second transitory static position minimising the number of unsupported delivery UAVs.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the subset of delivery UAVs at each point in time corresponding to presence of a delivery UAV at a target location disposed along the delivery route.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising regulating the minimum number of communication UAVs on the basis of a maximum number of communication hops from a delivery UAV to the base unit.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
generating the set of delivery routes of the delivery UAVs on the basis of a number of delivery UAVs, a location of a base unit, and a number and location of each target location.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: generating a set of first transitory static positions for communication UAVs in the set of communication UAVs on the basis of the set of delivery routes.
6. The method as claimed in claim 5 , further comprising:
generating a route for a communication UAV using the set of first transitory static positions as waypoints.
7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the intra-cluster distance is twice a communication range of a communication UAV.
8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
grouping the unsupported delivery UAVs using agglomerative hierarchical clustering to form a single-point cluster or augment an existing cluster.
9. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a cluster furthest from a supported communication region; and
determining a number of the second transitory static positions to support the cluster furthest from a supported communication region.
10. A system, comprising:
a set of delivery unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs, each delivery UAV configured to follow a delivery route;
a set of communication UAVs, each supporting a communication region, where the set of communication UAVs form a communication structure to communicatively link the set of delivery UAVs with a base unit; and
a processor configured to:
determine a set of initial transitory static positions relative to the delivery routes of the delivery UAVs, for the set of communication UAVs, respectively, to maximize a number of delivery UAVs whom are able to communicate with the base unit via the communication structure throughout the delivery UAVs travel along their delivery routes, respectively, using a minimum number of communication UAVs; and
determine a second transitory static position for at least one of the communication UAVs in the set of communication UAVs as each delivery UAV travels along its respective delivery route, the determination is based on a number of delivery UAVs that are unsupported by the communication structure and not able to use the communication structure to communicate with the base unit, where a delivery UAV is unsupported when outside a communication region of each communication UAV in the set of communication UAVs and the delivery UAVs that are unsupported are grouped into one or more clusters defined by a maximum intra-cluster distance related to a communication region.
11. The system as claimed in claim 10 , wherein a communication UAV supports multiple communication protocols.
12. The system as claimed in claim 11 , wherein a first communication protocol is used to provide intra-communication-region communication, and wherein a second communication protocol is used to provide inter-communication-region communication.
13. The method as claimed in claim 2 , further comprising regulating the minimum number of communication UAVs on the basis of a maximum number of communication hops from a delivery UAV to the base unit.
14. The method as claimed in claim 2 , further comprising:
generating the set of delivery routes of the delivery UAVs on the basis of a number of delivery UAVs, a location of a base unit, and a number and location of each target location.
15. The method as claimed in claim 3 , further comprising:
generating the set of delivery routes of the delivery UAVs on the basis of a number of delivery UAVs, a location of a base unit, and a number and location of each target location.
16. The method as claimed in claim 2 , further comprising:
generating a set of first transitory static positions for communication UAVs in the set of communication UAVs on the basis of the set of delivery routes.
17. The system as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the communication UAV is smaller and/or lighter than the delivery UAV.
18. The system as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the communication UAV does not have payload delivery hardware.
19. The system as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to determine a number of delivery UAVs in the set of delivery UAVs based on a number of target locations for delivery and determine each delivery route.