Design and Implementation of a Relay Mechanism in Restricted UAVs Ad-hoc Networks

In extreme environment, frequent changes in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) networks topology will lead to irregular network partition due to node mobility, energy constraints and accidental damage. The performance of Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) routing protocols are greatly limited. Delay/Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN) random routing protocol for interrupted networks will cause unnecessary overhead in well-connected network and it is impossible to establish transmission connections for completely disconnected nodes. Therefore, it is necessary to use non-random mobile UAVs as relays to transmit data. For the relay UAV, we design a relay mechanism based on Software Defined Network (SDN) architecture, which can switch to MANET mode according to the network environment changes while guaranteeing the carrier transmission of the relay UAV, so as to reduce the flight delay. In addition, we verify the validity of the relay mechanism through simulation experiments, and realize the mechanism by using physical objects. The experimental results show the average transmission delay of UAV is reduced by 29.5% compared with the original scheme.

[1]  Martin Matis,et al.  A brief comparision of fundamental routing methods for Mobile Multihop Networks (MANET) , 2016, 2016 International Symposium ELMAR.

[2]  Vania Conan,et al.  HYMAD: Hybrid DTN-MANET routing for dense and highly dynamic wireless networks , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks & Workshops.

[3]  Lav Gupta,et al.  Survey of Important Issues in UAV Communication Networks , 2016, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[4]  Christian Schindelhauer,et al.  DT-DYMO: Delay-Tolerant Dynamic MANET On-demand Routing , 2009, 2009 29th IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems Workshops.

[5]  Paulo Rogério Pereira,et al.  Improving Message Delivery in UAV-based Delay Tolerant Networks , 2018, 2018 16th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems Telecommunications (ITST).

[6]  Ellen W. Zegura,et al.  A message ferrying approach for data delivery in sparse mobile ad hoc networks , 2004, MobiHoc '04.

[7]  Ellen W. Zegura,et al.  Controlling the mobility of multiple data transport ferries in a delay-tolerant network , 2005, Proceedings IEEE 24th Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies..

[8]  Ricardo de Oliveira Schmidt,et al.  MANETs routing protocols evaluation in a scenario with high mobility MANET routing protocols performance and behavior , 2008, NOMS 2008 - 2008 IEEE Network Operations and Management Symposium.

[9]  Hermann Hellwagner,et al.  A hybrid MANET-DTN routing scheme for emergency response scenarios , 2013, 2013 IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops (PERCOM Workshops).

[10]  Qun Li,et al.  Communication in disconnected ad hoc networks using message relay , 2003, J. Parallel Distributed Comput..

[11]  Paul G. Spirakis,et al.  Analysis and Experimental Evaluation of an Innovative and Efficient Routing Protocol for Ad-hoc Mobile Networks , 2000, WAE.