Optimal deployment method of UAV hangars

The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have emerged as a popular method for performing inspection operation during the past decade. Sine the maximum flight ranges of UAVs are usually constrained by the battery capacity, drone hangars have been strategically positioned to replenish or change the batteries, thereby increasing the number of task points that can be inspected. The issue of optimizing UAV hangars’ deployment to cover the task points is studied. We propose a two-step computationally efficient approach. First, a triangle pattern with GIS is applied to place drone hangars, which fully covers the task points. Subsequently, we employ a location optimization procedure to iteratively eliminate certain drone hangars that cover either no points or a relatively small number of points, and then relocate the rest hangars. Computer simulations and comparisons are made to illustrate the validity of the proposed solution.