QoS-Aware Deployment Optimization for Capsule Airport–UAV Emergency Communication Networks

Abstract

When natural disasters strike, the destruction of terrestrial communication infrastructure creates urgent demands for emergency networks. Efficient UAV deployment in capsule airport–UAV hierarchical networks has emerged as a critical challenge due to limited aerial resources and stringent quality-of-service requirements. This paper develops a QoS-aware joint optimization model for UAV deployment, integrating air-to-ground (A2G) channel modeling with resource allocation, where upper-level position optimization is coordinated with lower-level frequency allocation and power control through a hierarchical decomposition strategy. The proposed QoS-TLK-VNS-K algorithm combines graph coloring for interference mitigation with iterative power control for SINR guarantee. Empirical evaluation using multi-scenario simulations demonstrates that the proposed approach significantly outperforms the traditional distance-based coverage method. Statistical validation over 30 independent runs demonstrates significant improvements in QoS satisfaction (+23.8%, p<0.001), average SINR (+104.0%, p<0.001), minimum user rate (+194.9%, p<0.001), and Jain’s fairness index (+16.2%, p<0.001) compared to the distance-based baseline. These results demonstrate that the framework effectively addresses the trade-off between interference suppression and network connectivity in multi-UAV emergency communication systems.