Model Predictive Control Enabled UAV Trajectory Optimization and Secure Resource Allocation

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate a secure communication architecture based on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which enhances the security performance of the communication system through UAV trajectory optimization. We formulate a control problem of minimizing the UAV flight path and power consumption while maximizing secure communication rate over infinite horizon by jointly optimizing UAV trajectory, transmit beamforming vector, and artificial noise (AN) vector. Given the non-uniqueness of optimization objective and significant coupling of the optimization variables, the problem is a non-convex optimization problem which is difficult to solve directly. To address this complex issue, an alternating-iteration technique is employed to decouple the optimization variables. Specifically, the problem is divided into three subproblems, i.e., UAV trajectory, transmit beamforming vector, and AN vector, which are solved alternately. Additionally, considering the susceptibility of UAV trajectory to disturbances, the model predictive control (MPC) approach is applied to obtain UAV trajectory and enhance the system robustness. Numerical results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed optimization algorithm in maintaining accurate UAV trajectory and high secure communication rate compared with other benchmark schemes.