Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs): Persistent Surveillance for a Military Scenario

Due to their capabilities for observation, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have proven themselves beneficial to the varying field operations of the armed forces and similar civilian operations. This study defines two different designs of persistent surveillance mission: hands-off and rendezvous. In the hands-off, the low-fueled UAVs hand off the mission tasks to fully-fueled replacement UAVs. The low-fueled UAVs then return to the base for battery charge. After being recharged, they navigate to other missions to keep the rotation. On the other hand, in the rendezvous, the low-fueled UAVs stay at surveillance locations and mobile charging stations seek rendezvous with the UAVs before batteries drain. The mobile charging stations mutually calculate a set of tours to locate, join and refuel all UAVs in the midst of ongoing projects. The objective is to allow the UAVs to remain on their missions without returning to the base for battery replenishment. As a result, the UAV time in maintenance repose is lowered and mission extension options can be better managed.