Routing Schemes in FANETs: A Survey

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Electrical Engineering
• Network Engineering

Background:

• Flying Ad Hoc Networks (FANETs) are self-organizing wireless networks utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for communication without fixed infrastructure.
• FANETs are crucial for next-generation applications, requiring efficient routing for node collaboration and coordination.
• Key challenges in FANET routing include high energy consumption due to message exchange and link disconnections from dynamic 3D mobility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a comprehensive survey of existing routing schemes in FANETs.
• To analyze various aspects of FANET routing, including objectives, challenges, metrics, characteristics, and performance measures.
• To identify and discuss open issues and future research directions in FANET routing.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of existing research on FANET routing schemes.
• Categorization and analysis of routing schemes based on defined aspects.
• Identification of common challenges and performance evaluation metrics.

Main Results:

• The survey covers diverse routing schemes, highlighting their approaches to managing FANET characteristics.
• Analysis reveals trade-offs between energy efficiency, route stability, and network performance.
• Identified key challenges include energy consumption and dynamic mobility impacting route lifetime.

Conclusions:

• Routing in FANETs is critical for enabling UAV collaboration and achieving application goals.
• Further research is needed to address energy efficiency and mobility challenges for robust FANET routing.
• The survey provides a foundational understanding for developing advanced routing protocols in FANETs.