UAV Data Acquisition and Processing Assisted by UGV-Enabled Mobile Edge Computing

Abstract

Data acquisition and processing (DAP) by uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) hold the key to a diverse range of practical applications. However, UAVs often face challenges in completing complex DAP tasks due to inadequate on-board resources. To ameliorate such difficulties, previous researches have explored the mobile edge computing (MEC)-assisted UAV DAP, but they do not prioritize the mobility of MEC servers, resulting in challenges when communication and computation resources are limited. To address this issue, this work proposes a novel design that incorporates a movable uncrewedground vehicle (UGV)-mounted MEC server to assist UAV DAP, which enables the UAV to thoroughly leverage edge resources. Under this design, we aim to maximize UAV DAP ability with constraints including real-time data processing, UGV obstacles avoidance and system motion. Efficient algorithms are proposed, with obstacles avoidance problem solved, from a systematic perspective. Extensive simulation and real-world experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of our system design and algorithms.