{"ID":2889186,"CreatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.21772","arxiv_id":"2507.21772","title":"Multi-UAV Deployment in Obstacle-Cluttered Environments with LOS Connectivity","abstract":"A reliable communication network is essential for multiple UAVs operating within obstacle-cluttered environments, where limited communication due to obstructions often occurs. A common solution is to deploy intermediate UAVs to relay information via a multi-hop network, which introduces two challenges: (i) how to design the structure of multihop networks; and (ii) how to maintain connectivity during collaborative motion. To this end, this work first proposes an efficient constrained search method based on the minimumedge RRT? algorithm, to find a spanning-tree topology that requires a less number of UAVs for the deployment task. Then, to achieve this deployment, a distributed model predictive control strategy is proposed for the online motion coordination. It explicitly incorporates not only the inter-UAV and UAVobstacle distance constraints, but also the line-of-sight (LOS) connectivity constraint. These constraints are well-known to be nonlinear and often tackled by various approximations. In contrast, this work provides a theoretical guarantee that all agent trajectories are ensured to be collision-free with a teamwise LOS connectivity at all time. Numerous simulations are performed in 3D valley-like environments, while hardware experiments validate its dynamic adaptation when the deployment position changes online.","short_abstract":"A reliable communication network is essential for multiple UAVs operating within obstacle-cluttered environments, where limited communication due to obstructions often occurs. A common solution is to deploy intermediate UAVs to relay information via a multi-hop network, which introduces two challenges: (i) how to desig...","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.21772","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.21772v1","authors":"[\"Yuda Chen\",\"Shuaikang Wang\",\"Jie Li\",\"Meng Guo\"]","published":"2025-07-29T12:55:55Z","proceeding":"cs.RO","tasks":"[\"cs.RO\"]","methods":"[]","has_code":false}