An emerging change in FANET - a status review

Abstract

With the continuous surge in demand for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), the need for an efficient and robust UAV networking architecture & the associated propagation models has become crucial. As a result, in recent years, the use of UAVs in the form of Flying Ad Hoc Networks (FANETs), particularly drone swarms, has grown in popularity and robust deployment for disaster recovery, military applications, forest surveillance, and other similar situations. However, different aspects like weather conditions create a significant barrier for UAV deployment with the FANET routing method & hence it is a challenge to be addressed. The gas attenuation and fog attenuation were simulated for routing protocols. Also, 3D mesh generation from aerial photographs has advanced significantly over the decades. Advanced photogrammetry techniques for 3D mapping have become an essential part of aerial surveys. This technique is still improving and has a vast scope for future research. One of the state-of-the-art methods has been described and evaluated. We also addressed another issue, i.e., load balancing, which is an essential factor in lightweight or heavyweight UAVs. On the advancement of the FANET, the reader may find helpful information in networking protocol, channel model, and load balancing for longer duration surveys (i.e., Forest over a hilly region) or heterogeneous weather conditions.