IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials· 2015Q1· Review
Survey of Important Issues in UAV Communication Networks
- 2,318citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2015year
Short summary
This survey identifies key challenges in UAV communication networks, highlighting that existing MANET/VANET solutions are insufficient due to unique characteristics like intermittent links, fluid topology, and power constraints.
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Key points
- UAV networks possess unique characteristics (high mobility, intermittent links, fluid topology) not adequately addressed by existing MANET/VANET protocols.
- Routing protocols must adapt to dynamic topologies, power constraints, and changing link quality.
- Network partitioning and limited node lifespan necessitate delay/disruption tolerance and seamless handovers.
- Energy efficiency (greening the network) is a crucial consideration for UAV protocols.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have enormous potential in the public and civil domains. These are particularly useful in applications, where human lives would otherwise be endangered. Multi-UAV systems can collaboratively complete missions more efficiently and economically as compared to single UAV systems. However, there are many issues to be resolved before effective use of UAVs can be made to provide stable and reliable context-specific networks. Much of the work carried out in the areas of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), and vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) does not address the unique characteristics of the UAV networks. UAV networks may vary from slow dynamic to dynamic and have intermittent links and fluid topology. While it is believed that ad hoc mesh network would be most suitable for UAV networks yet the architecture of multi-UAV networks has been an understudied area. Software defined networking (SDN) could facilitate flexible deployment and management of new services and help reduce cost, increase security and availability in networks. Routing demands of UAV networks go beyond the needs of MANETS and VANETS. Protocols are required that would adapt to high mobility, dynamic topology, intermittent links, power constraints, and changing link quality. UAVs may fail and the network may get partitioned making delay and disruption tolerance an important design consideration. Limited life of the node and dynamicity of the network lead to the requirement of seamless handovers, where researchers are looking at the work done in the areas of MANETs and VANETs, but the jury is still out. As energy supply on UAVs is limited, protocols in various layers should contribute toward greening of the network. This paper surveys the work done toward all of these outstanding issues, relating to this new class of networks, so as to spur further research in these areas.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 2015 · DOI ↗
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Field: Computer Networks and Communications
Computer Networks and CommunicationsComputer Science