Number and Operation Time Minimization for Multi-UAV-Enabled Data Collection System With Time Windows

In this article, we investigate multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)-enabled data collection system in Internet of Things (IoT) networks with time windows, where rotary-wing UAVs are dispatched to collect from time-constrained terrestrial IoT devices. We aim jointly minimize the number and total operation by optimizing UAV trajectory hovering location. To end, an optimization problem is formulated, considering energy budget cache capacity as well transmission constraint tackle mix-integer nonconvex problem, decompose into two subproblems: 1) 2) location problems. solve first subproblem, modified ant colony (MACO) algorithm proposed. For second successive convex approximation (SCA) technique applied. Then, overall algorithm, termed MACO-based given leveraging MACO SCA technique. Simulation results demonstrate superiority proposed algorithm.