Nature-Inspired Optimization Techniques in VANETs and FANETs: A Survey

In recent years, Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) and Flying Ad hoc Networks (FANETs) are evolving rapidly. VANETs and FANETs are special types of Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs). VANET uses vehicles as mobile nodes for the communication. VANET provide communication during emergency situations like accidents to avoid its possibility by sending alert messages to the drivers. FANET is a collection of unmanned aerial vehicles that communicate without any predefined infrastructure. FANET being the most searched and researched topic nowadays is finding its scope in flying objects like drones used for military applications such as border surveillance and for civil applications such as disaster management, traffic monitoring. In VANETs and FANETs, routing is challenging when Quality of Service (QoS) parameters needs to be satisfied. In this paper, VANETs and FANETs’ routing protocols implementing optimization techniques (like Ant colony optimization, bee colony optimization, and particle swarm optimization) are surveyed. The differences between VANETs and FANETs are clarified first and then routing protocols for VANETs and FANETs are discussed.