# DRL-Enabled Trajectory Planing for UAV-Assisted VLC: Optimal Altitude and Reward Design

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.22512 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.22512/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 3 of its 13 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 30 Jan 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Deep Learning for Optimal Deployment of UAVs with Visible Light Communications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.00752/) (2019)
- [Trajectory Design for UAV-Based Internet-of-Things Data Collection: A Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.11015/) (2021)
- [Multi Agent Reinforcement Learning Trajectory Design and Two-Stage Resource Management in CoMP UAV VLC Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.05116/) (2021)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Recently, the integration of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and visible light communication (VLC) technologies has emerged as a promising solution to offer flexible communication and efficient lighting. This letter investigates the three-dimensional trajectory planning in a UAV-assisted VLC system, where a UAV is dispatched to collect data from ground users (GUs). The core objective is to develop a trajectory planning framework that minimizes UAV flight distance, which is equivalent to maximizing the data collection efficiency. This issue is formulated as a challenging mixed-integer non-convex optimization problem. To tackle it, we first derive a closed-form optimal flight altitude under specific VLC channel gain threshold. Subsequently, we optimize the UAV horizontal trajectory by integrating a novel pheromone-driven reward mechanism with the twin delayed deep deterministic policy gradient algorithm, which enables adaptive UAV motion strategy in complex environments. Simulation results validate that the derived optimal altitude effectively reduces the flight distance by up to 35% compared to baseline methods. Additionally, the proposed reward mechanism significantly shortens the convergence steps by approximately 50%, demonstrating notable efficiency gains in the context of UAV-assisted VLC data collection.