UAV Path Optimization for Precision Agriculture Wireless Sensor Networks

The use of monitoring sensors is increasingly present in the context of precision agriculture. Usually, these sensor nodes (SNs) alternate their states between periods of activation and hibernation to reduce battery usage. When employing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to collect data from SNs distr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2020-10, Vol.20 (21), p.6098
Main Authors: Just, Gilson E., E. Pellenz, Marcelo, Lima, Luiz A. de Paula, S. Chang, Bruno, Demo Souza, Richard, Montejo-Sánchez, Samuel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural production
Agriculture
Collaboration
Communication
Data collection
data gathering
Drones
Evacuations & rescues
Global positioning systems
GPS
Hibernation
Monitoring
Nuclear power plants
path planning
Poisons
precision agriculture
Prohibition
Reconfiguration
Route optimization
Sensors
Traveling salesman problem
unmanned aerial vehicle
Unmanned aerial vehicles
Wireless networks
Wireless sensor networks
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Summary:The use of monitoring sensors is increasingly present in the context of precision agriculture. Usually, these sensor nodes (SNs) alternate their states between periods of activation and hibernation to reduce battery usage. When employing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to collect data from SNs distributed over a large agricultural area, we must synchronize the UAV route with the activation period of each SN. In this article, we address the problem of optimizing the UAV path through all the SNs to reduce its flight time, while also maximizing the SNs’ lifetime. Using the concept of timeslots for time base management combined with the idea of flight prohibition list, we propose an efficient algorithm for discovering and reconfiguring the activation time of the SNs. Experimental results were obtained through the development of our own simulator—UAV Simulator. These results demonstrate a considerable reduction in the distance traveled by the UAV and also in its flight time. In addition, the model provides a reduction in transmission time by SNs after reconfiguration, thus ensuring a longer lifetime for the SNs in the monitoring environment, as well as improving the freshness and continuity of the gathered data, which support the decision-making process.
ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI:10.3390/s20216098