Double Deep Reinforcement Learning–Based UAV Positioning for Throughput Optimization in Wireless Networks

Abstract

This work investigates a reinforcement learning-based control framework for the autonomous movement and coordination of multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in a wireless communication environment. The considered system includes UAVs performing sensing and relaying tasks, where mobility decisions directly affect the overall network performance. The main objective is to improve the communication quality of ground users by maximizing aggregate network throughput. To achieve this objective, a Double Deep Q-Network (DDQN) architecture is employed, where each UAV is assigned an individual learning agent. The agents learn role-specific movement policies while coordinating through interactions with the shared environment. Learning performance is further improved by using adaptive scaling and a custom reward function designed to capture variations in network utility. Simulation results show that the proposed approach outperforms baseline movement strategies in terms of utility. In addition, different task configurations, agent behaviors, and hyperparameter selections are examined to improve convergence speed and training stability. Overall, the results indicate that reinforcement learning is a promising method for cooperative UAV positioning in dynamic and interference-sensitive wireless communication scenarios.