Location Error Analysis for Collaborative Beamforming in UAVs Random Array

Spatially randomly distributed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) cooperate with each other to form a virtual array and implement collaborative beamforming, which can improve communication distance. However, due to limitations in location algorithm and airflow disturbances, the location of UAV is difficult to estimate accurately, which leads to the degradation of collaborative beamforming performance. Hence, in this letter, by considering the UAVs random array adopts relative position-based formation, where the location error of one UAV may accumulate in subsequent UAVs, the expressions of average far-field beampattern, peak power attenuation, and complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF) for collaborative beamforming are deduced and analyzed. The results demonstrate that with the increase of location error, average far-field beampattern and CCDF deteriorate, and peak power attenuation increases. In addition, when the number of UAVs is large, even slight location errors lead to sharp drops in peak power and CCDF.