SEMARANG – The academic community of Semarang State Polytechnic (Polines) has once again achieved a proud achievement. Muhammad Anif, a lecturer in the Electrical Engineering Department at Polines, earned a doctorate in Electrical Engineering after defending his dissertation at the doctoral promotion defense in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Gadjah Mada University (UGM), on Wednesday (July 15, 2026).
In his dissertation entitled “Optimization of Multicriteria Mission Quality Index Oriented to Energy Efficiency in Multi-UAV Systems in Flying Ad-Hoc Network (FANET) Environment”, Muhammad Anif presents an innovation in the form of a new optimization algorithm called Weighted Energy-aware Genetic Algorithm (WE-Gen.A). The algorithm was developed to improve the quality of mission execution in multi-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (multi-UAV) systems while still prioritizing energy efficiency.
This research is based on the increasing use of UAV or drone technology in various sectors, from regional monitoring, disaster search and rescue, precision agriculture, infrastructure inspection, and data collection in hard-to-reach areas. Amidst these developments, limited battery capacity remains a major challenge, impacting operational duration and mission success.
As a solution, Muhammad Anif introduced the concept of the Mission Quality Index, namely a multi-criteria objective function that integrates five main indicators, including energy efficiency, completeness of observation area coverage (coverage completeness), success of data collection (data delivery reliability), equal distribution of workload between UAVs (UAV fairness), and equal distribution of services to observation points (Point of Interest fairness).
This approach allows the optimization process to focus not only on energy savings but also on maintaining the overall quality of mission execution. This allows multi-UAV systems to operate more effectively, efficiently, and balanced under various operational conditions.
Through various simulation scenarios, the WE-Gen.A algorithm demonstrates superior performance compared to a number of existing methods, such as Random Assignment, Greedy, Multi-Robot Genetic Algorithm (MR-GA), Energy-Balanced Genetic Algorithm (EB-GA), and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II). The results of the study indicate that the developed algorithm is able to produce a more optimal balance between energy efficiency and mission quality compared to previous methods.
Muhammad Anif explained that this research is expected to be the basis for the development of a smarter and more efficient multi-UAV coordination system, especially in applications that require long-term autonomous operation with limited energy sources.
“"The Mission Quality Index concept developed in this research is expected to form the basis for developing multi-UAV optimization algorithms that not only pursue energy efficiency but also consider overall mission success. This approach has the potential to be applied to various UAV applications in the future," said Muhammad Anif.
In addition to providing scientific contributions to the field of multi-UAV system optimization and Flying Ad-Hoc Network (FANET), the results of this research are also considered relevant to the development of next-generation communication technology that integrates UAVs as part of smart network infrastructure.
Muhammad Anif's success in earning a doctorate is clear evidence of Semarang State Polytechnic's commitment to improving the quality of human resources, strengthening a culture of research and innovation, and producing scientific works that impact the development of science, technology, and societal progress. Through this achievement, Polines continues to affirm its role as a leading, innovative vocational higher education institution, contributing to addressing future technological challenges.
Polines Public Relations
Semarang, August 4, 2026