The integration of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) with flying ad hoc networks (FANETs) offers new opportunities to enhance performance in aerial communications. This paper proposes a novel FANET architecture in which each unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone is equipped with an RIS comprising M passive elements, enabling dynamic manipulation of the wireless propagation environment. We address the joint power allocation and RIS configuration problem to maximize the sum spectral efficiency, subject to constraints on maximum transmit power and unit-modulus phase shifts. The formulated optimization problem is non-convex due to coupled variables and interference. We develop an alternating optimization-based joint power and phase shift (AO-JPPS) algorithm that decomposes the problem into two subproblems: power allocation via successive convex approximation and phase optimization via Riemannian manifold optimization. A key contribution is addressing the RIS coupling effect, where the configuration of each RIS simultaneously influences multiple communication links. Complexity analysis reveals polynomial-time scalability, while derived performance bounds provide theoretical insights. Numerical simulations demonstrate that our approach achieves significant spectral efficiency gains over conventional FANETs, establishing the effectiveness of RIS-assisted drone networks for future wireless applications.
Ayub et al. (2026) studied this question.