In this paper, we design a navigation policy for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) where mobile base stations (BSs) are deployed to improve the data freshness and connectivity to the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. First, we formulate an energy-efficient trajectory optimization problem in which the objective is to maximize the energy efficiency by optimizing the UAV-BS trajectory policy. We also incorporate different contextual information such as energy and age of information (AoI) constraints to ensure the data freshness at the ground BS. Second, we propose an agile deep reinforcement learning with experience replay model to solve the formulated problem concerning the contextual constraints for the UAV-BS navigation. Moreover, the proposed approach is well-suited for solving the problem, since the state space of the problem is extremely large and finding the best trajectory policy with useful contextual features is too complex for the UAV-BSs. By applying the proposed trained model, an effective real-time trajectory policy for the UAV-BSs captures the observable network states over time. Finally, the simulation results illustrate the proposed approach is 3.6% and 3.13% more energy efficient than those of the greedy and baseline deep Q Network (DQN) approaches.

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – A small instrument inside the drones that targeted the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry and those in the arsenal of Yemen's Houthi rebels match components recovered in downed Iranian drones in Afghanistan and Iraq, two reports say. These gyroscopes have only been found inside drones manufactured by Iran, Conflict Armament Research said in a report released on Wednesday. That follows a recently released report from the United Nations saying its experts saw a similar gyroscope from an Iranian drone obtained by the U.S. military in Afghanistan, as well as in weapons shipments seized in the Arabian Sea bound for Yemen. The discovery further ties Iran to an attack that briefly halved Saudi Arabia's oil output and saw energy prices spike by a level unseen since the 1991 Gulf War. It also ties Iran to the arming of the rebel Houthis in Yemen's long civil war.

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarms must exploit machine learning (ML) in order to execute various tasks ranging from coordinated trajectory planning to cooperative target recognition. However, due to the lack of continuous connections between the UAV swarm and ground base stations (BSs), using centralized ML will be challenging, particularly when dealing with a large volume of data. In this paper, a novel framework is proposed to implement distributed federated learning (FL) algorithms within a UAV swarm that consists of a leading UAV and several following UAVs. Each following UAV trains a local FL model based on its collected data and then sends this trained local model to the leading UAV who will aggregate the received models, generate a global FL model, and transmit it to followers over the intra-swarm network. To identify how wireless factors, like fading, transmission delay, and UAV antenna angle deviations resulting from wind and mechanical vibrations, impact the performance of FL, a rigorous convergence analysis for FL is performed. Then, a joint power allocation and scheduling design is proposed to optimize the convergence rate of FL while taking into account the energy consumption during convergence and the delay requirement imposed by the swarm's control system. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the FL convergence analysis and show that the joint design strategy can reduce the number of communication rounds needed for convergence by as much as 35% compared with the baseline design.

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a bill to support companies to develop secure 5G mobile networks and drone technologies amid growing alarm among Tokyo policy-makers over the increasing influence of China's 5G technology. The bill will give companies which develop such technologies access to low-interest rate loans from government-affiliated financial institutions if their plans fulfill standards on cyber security. Companies that adopt 5G technologies can also get tax incentives if they meet standards set by the government, according to the bill. The government will submit the bill to the parliament and aims to bring it to effect around summer. The United States has been waging a campaign against Huawei Technologies Co, which Washington has warned could spy on customers for Beijing.

British Airways' parent company, IAG is implementing some cutting edge automation solutions in response to the rapid pan-industry digitalisation of the air freight sector. Announced on Thursday, IAG Cargo will start using autonomous drones in a move towards full automation of inventory counts in its air cargo facilities, following a successful trial. With a vision to fully automate inventory counts at its air cargo facilities, IAG Cargo has been working closely with FlytBase on aerial inventory scans at its Madrid facility. Inventory counting, while critical to freight and logistics operations, is a massive train on man hours, consuming thousands of hours each year across IAG Cargo's hubs in the UK, Spain, and Ireland. On top of this, rapid global growth in ecommerce and increasing customer expectations of immediacy when it comes to delivery mean that air freight operators are having to increase the frequency of counts.

Gen. Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq, the Tehran-backed Lebanese organization Hezbollah urgently met with Iraqi militia leaders, seeking to unite them in the face of a huge void left by their powerful mentor's death, two sources with knowledge of the meetings said. The meetings were meant to coordinate the political efforts of Iraq's often-fractious militias, which lost not only Soleimani but also Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a unifying Iraqi paramilitary commander, in the Jan. 3 attack at Baghdad airport, the sources said. While offering few details, two additional sources in a pro-Iran regional alliance confirmed that Hezbollah, which is sanctioned as a terrorist group by the United States, has stepped in to help fill the void left by Soleimani in guiding the militias. All sources in this article spoke on condition of anonymity to address sensitive political activities rarely addressed in public. Officials with the governments of Iraq and Iran did not respond to requests for comment, nor did a spokesperson for the militia groups.

This footage shows an Israeli drone defense system shooting a series of moving targets out of the sky with a Star Wars-like laser beam. Manufacturers of the Drone Dome C-UAS hailed the system a '100 per cent success' after it brought down drones that were zig-zagging sharply during tests. The so-called Counter Unmanned Aircraft System can detect hostile drones from more than two miles away and fire a destructive laser beam'within seconds'. In this video published by defence manufacturer Rafael, three drones (circled) are flying in formation over the desert but are brought down by the Drone Dome's laser beam The footage published by Rafael, the defense manufacturer which is based in Haifa, showed drones falling out of the sky after they were intercepted by the Drone Dome. One target drone was hit and destroyed despite veering sharply from left to right as it flew over the desert.

Researchers at the University of Buffalo have received a $316,000 grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an agency funded by the US Department of Defense, to develop an artificial intelligence capable of controlling swarms of up to 250 drones. To created the experimental AI, scientists from the university's Artificial Intelligence Institute will study video game players as they pilot autonomous swarms of digital military units in real time strategy games like StarCraft, Stellaris, and Company of Heroes. The team will collect data on how the players react to a wide variety of different tactical challenges as well as watching how they react to unexpected changes in the terrain or terms of battle. Researchers at the University of Buffalo's Artificial Intelligence Institute will study the way video game players make choices in real time strategy games like StarCraft and Company of Heroes to develop an AI that can control swarms of up to 250 drones'We don't want the AI system just to mimic human behavior; we want it to form a deeper understanding of what motivates human actions,' University of Buffalo's Souma Chowdhury told the school's news site. 'That's what will lead to more advanced AI.' The team will also collect a range of biometric data from the players, through eyetracking software and electroencephalograms, which monitors brain activity while they play.

And as the injury toll has mounted, veterans groups and others have levied criticism at the White House, in part because, in January, President Trump dismissed the injuries as "not very serious." "I heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things," Mr. Trump said at a news conference Jan. 22 in Davos, Switzerland. "I don't consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries I have seen." At least a dozen missiles were fired during the attack, which was a retaliation for the killing of a top Iranian general, Qassim Suleimani, by an American drone strike in Baghdad on Jan. 3. The Trump administration at first said there were no injuries, but a week later said several service members were evaluated for possible concussions.

Residents walking down the streets of Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, could face chastisement from drones flying overhead. China is allegedly using drones to keep a watchful eye over its residents, to ensure they're taking the appropriate precautions to keep the coronavirus at bay. In addition, it's also believed that the nation is using robots in hospitals to alleviate the pressure from over-worked medical staff and to provide faster checks of the virus. Many news sources coming from China are sharing these methods, meant to fight the coronavirus outbreak. Huge stress and challenges have been added to medical workers in China due to the coronavirus outbreak.