Dynamic Multiobjective Co-Optimization of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Placement, Task Scheduling, and Resource Allocation for Remote Sensing

Abstract

This article investigates the dynamic multiobjective co-optimization problem in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-assisted remote sensing systems, aiming to jointly optimize UAV placement, task scheduling strategies, and computing/communication resource allocation to minimize the system’s average processing latency and the total energy consumption of UAVs. Addressing the shortcomings of existing research, which often overlooks the computational capabilities of UAVs, optimizes only a single aspect, and fails to account for environmental dynamics, this work formulates the problem as a dynamic multiobjective optimization problem. A hybrid optimization framework named DSG, integrating swarm intelligence and evolutionary algorithms, is proposed. The framework first derives a closed-form optimal resource allocation solution for given deployment and scheduling strategies through theoretical analysis. It then employs an improved dynamic multiobjective evolutionary algorithm (DMOEA) to co-optimize UAV positions (continuous variables) and task scheduling (discrete variables). Experimental results demonstrate that DSG achieves significantly better normalized hypervolume performance than comparative algorithms across various system scales [number of UAVs, access points (APs), and sensors] while exhibiting good stability and scalability. This provides an effective solution for the efficient co-optimization of UAV-assisted edge computing in dynamic environments.