Optimal Numbers and Mix of SSA Drones and Radio Repeater Drones based on Ant Colony Algorithm

Abstract

During the 2019-2020 fire season in Australia, there were destructive wildfires in every state, particularly in Victoria. Therefore, we are required to build a model to deploy drones to surveil the fire. We develop the basic model to find out the optimal numbers and mix of SSA drones and radio repeater drones. First, we use Ant Colony Algorithm to solve the shortest path, which could make the government purchase as few drones as possible under the premise of covering a large area. According to the operating mode of UVA and the theory of UAV formation cooperative control, we find out the information state of the radio repeater and its cruise path length. Besides, we create a fire risk assessment to determine the speed of information updates and adjust the number of drones. Finally, we determine the optimal combination of 1260 SSA drones and 151 repeater drones.