Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) serve as airborne access points or base stations, delivering network services to the Internet of Things devices (IoTDs) in areas with compromised or absent infrastructure. However, urban obstacles like trees and high buildings can obstruct the connection between UAVs and IoTDs, leading to degraded communication performance. High altitudes can also result in significant path losses. To address these challenges, this paper introduces the deployment of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) that smartly reflect signals to improve communication quality. It proposes a method to jointly optimize the 3D trajectory of the UAV and the phase shifts of the RIS to maximize communication coverage and ensure satisfactory average achievable data rates for RIS-assisted UAV-enabled wireless communications by considering mobile multi-user scenarios. In this paper, a multi-agent double-deep Q-network (MADDQN) algorithm is presented, which each agent dynamically adjusts either the positioning of the UAV or the phase shifts of the RIS. Agents learn to collaborate with each other by sharing the same reward to achieve a common goal. In the simulation, results demonstrate that the proposed method significantly outperforms baseline strategies in terms of improving communication coverage and average achievable data rates. The proposed method achieves 98.6% of a communication coverage score, while IoTDs are guaranteed to have acceptable achievable data rates.

In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become a valuable platform for many applications, including communication networks. UAV-enabled wireless communication faces challenges in complex urban and dynamic environments. UAVs can suffer from power limitations and path losses caused by non-line-of-sight connections, which may hamper communication performance. To address these issues, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) have been proposed as helpful technologies to enhance UAV communication networks. However, due to the high mobility of UAVs, complex channel environments, and dynamic RIS configurations, it is challenging to estimate the link quality of ground users. In this paper, we propose a link quality estimation model using a gated recurrent unit (GRU) to assess the link quality of ground users for a multi-user RIS-assisted UAV-enabled wireless communication system. Our proposed framework uses a time series of user channel data and RIS phase shift information to estimate the quality of the link for each ground user. The simulation results showed that the proposed GRU model can effectively and accurately estimate the link quality of ground users in the RIS-assisted UAV-enabled wireless communication network.

In wireless networks, drone base stations (DBSs) offer significant benefits in terms of Quality of Service (QoS) improvement due to their line-of-sight (LoS) transmission capabilities and adaptability. However, LoS links can suffer degradation in complex propagation environments, especially in urban areas with dense structures like buildings. As a promising technology to enhance the wireless communication networks, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) have emerged in various Internet of Things (IoT) applications by adjusting the amplitude and phase of reflected signals, thereby improving signal strength and network efficiency. This study aims to propose a novel approach to enhance communication coverage and throughput for mobile ground users by intelligently leveraging signal reflection from DBSs using ground-based RIS. We employ Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) to optimize both the DBS location and RIS phase-shifts. Numerical results demonstrate significant improvements in system performance, including communication quality and network throughput, validating the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

The Marine Internet of Things (MIoT) has experienced widespread adoption in the maritime industry; however, its communication infrastructure faces significant challenges due to a lack of terrestrial networks and the dynamic nature of oceanic environments. In response, low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites have been suggested as an alternative solution. However, LEO satellites also face limitations, including coverage gaps due to the power constraints of MIoT devices and the curvature of the Earth, which impede continuous connectivity. To address these challenges, integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as aerial base stations between LEO satellites and MIoT devices has gained attention as an effective solution to enhance communication. Managing UAV mobility and ensuring reliable communication requires autonomous 3D trajectory optimization and dynamic resource allocation. This paper presents an integrated LEO and multi-UAV-enabled marine IoT network designed to maximize communication coverage, system throughput, and fairness. To achieve this, we formulate a joint UAV trajectory and resource allocation (UTCRA) optimization problem. To address the UTCRA problem, we propose a two-stage learning approach: 1) Gaussian mixture models (GMM)-based clustering is initially applied to dynamically cluster MIoT devices under different UAVs, ensuring a balanced distribution of user loads among UAVs. 2) A federated multi-agent deep deterministic policy gradient (FL-MADDPG) algorithm is employed to continuously optimize UAV trajectories and resource allocation, thereby enhancing communication efficiency. Simulation results demonstrate that FL-MADDPG with GMM significantly enhances communication coverage, average throughput, and fairness. It outperforms benchmark algorithms across all evaluated metrics, highlighting its strong potential as a method for next-generation marine IoT networks.

Wireless systems must deliver ubiquitous QoS for massive IoT, but in urban areas, the blockages severely degrade satellite links. We consider a RIS-enabled space–air–ground integrated network (SAGIN) where a moving LEO satellite provides coverage and multiple drone base stations (DBSs) act as mobile relays to restore connectivity for ground users. Some Reflecting Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) panels, mounted on buildings, create controllable reflect paths to overcome non-line-of-sight conditions. A key challenge is that DBS's 3D trajectory simultaneously affects the satellite–DBS and the DBS-RIS–user access links, while also determining their energy consumption. We formulate a joint optimization problem to maximize the communication coverage, system throughput, and fairness under mobility, energy, and connectivity constraints. To address the issue, we develop a Federated Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning (FL-MADRL) method that coordinates multiple agents: each agent learns online from local experience, while periodic federated aggregation shares policies without exchanging raw data. Simulations in an urban scenario demonstrate that the proposed approach maintains uninterrupted service in terms of coverage, throughput, and fairness while reducing DBS energy consumption compared to conventional convex approaches and non-federated baselines, indicating its suitability for RIS-assisted SAGIN systems.