Integrating Human Survival Factor in Optimizing the Routing of Flying Ad-hoc Networks in Search and Rescue Tasks

Abstract

Flying Ad-hoc Network (FANET)'s model operates according to routing protocols along with basic technical routing parameters. One of the FANET's significant challenges is ensuring the resilience of the UAVs' performance by adjusting the operational plan and network routing based on the constraints of operation goals and the limitations of resources. Subsequently, this paper proposes an agent-based Adaptive Zone Routing Protocol (AZRP) that enables the FANET to perform disaster relief missions efficiently. The AZRP operates in economic mode, search mode, or rescue mode according to the operational plan conditions, limitations of resources, and human survival factor. The AZRP is compared with the standard ZRP and AODV to determine the most suitable routing protocol in performing disaster relief missions. The search and rescue simulation is implemented by using the NS2 simulator. The testing and evaluation criteria consider Throughput (TH), Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), Packet Loss Ratios (PLR), and End-to-End Delay (E2E Delay). The obtained results indicate that the FANET model is able to perform in the three modes effectively and optimizes the search and rescue operations according to the given disaster relief simulation context and constraints. The AZRP outperforms the other two protocols and is able to achieve higher TH, higher PDR, lower PLR, and lower E2E delay.