Cooperation Between UAS and Wireless Sensor Networks for Efficient Data Collection in Large Environments

This paper describes a method for collection of data from Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) deployed in large environments using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). Unlike existing approaches, in which the WSN and the UAS act as independent units, the main novelty of the proposed method is that UAS and WSN cooperate to increase the performance of the mission. The proposed method presents two main cooperative behaviors: (1) the results of the WSN operation are used to update the UAS flight plan and; (2) the UAS trajectory is considered in the operation of the WSN in order to improve the data collection performance. The proposed method outperforms non-cooperative UAS-based collection approaches and traditional ground multi-hop collection schemes. The method has been experimented in the airfield of Bellavista in Seville (Spain) in March 2011.