Demand-aware Backhaul Allocation in UAV Networks: A Stackelberg Optimization Approach

This article investigates the resource allocation problem in ground-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) networks. Since the channel rate and energy limitation are important factors on influencing the profit of the command center, the relay UAV can not upload all information of its small UAVs team to the command center. A demand-aware backhaul allocation mechanism is designed to decide which to upload. We make a trade-off for the command center between reward and the power consumption, and the profit of the command center is optimized. A Stackelberg optimization is used to solve the problem. We find out the closed-form expression of the optimal transmitting rate of each small UAV under a condition of given power constraint through Lagrange multiplier method. Finally, we propose a "one-step glance back" algorithm to accelerate the command center's profit convergence. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.