Joint Neighbor Discovery and Positioning for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Networks

Positioning is of importance to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) networks, which is mainly realized using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). However the GNSS signals are not always available in environments such as denied or indoor areas. To address this issue, in this paper, a joint neighbor discovery and positioning method for UAV network is proposed to deal with the scenarios with poor GNSS signals. Specifically, during the neighbor discovery process, the Two-Way Ranging (TWR) and Angle of Arrival (AoA) algorithm is utilized. In addition, an approximate optimal multi-hop positioning method is proposed. The performance of the proposed method is analyzed. Numerically, the results demonstrate the positioning accuracy and the convergence of the neighbor discovery process. This paper verifies the value and feasibility of multi-hop positioning, providing a basis for further research in joint positioning and communication in UAV networking.