Formation coordination and network management of UAV networks using particle swarm optimization and software-defined networking

In recent years, with the growth in the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), UAV-based systems have become popular in both military and civil applications. The lack of reliable communication infrastructure in these scenarios has motivated the use of UAVs to establish a network as flying nodes, also known as UAV networks. However, the high mobility degree of flying and terrestrial users may be responsible for constant changes in nodes’ positioning, which makes it more challenging to guarantee their communication during the operational time. In this context, this work presents a framework solution for formation coordination and network management of UAVs, which aims to establish and maintain a set of relays units in order to provide a constant, reliable and efficient communication link among user nodes - which are performing individual or collaborative missions on its turn. Such a framework relies on a set of formation coordination algorithms - including the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) evolutionary algorithm -, and also considers the use of Software-defined Networking-based (SDN) communication protocol for network management. For coordination proposes, a novel particle selection criteria is proposed, which aims to guarantee network manageability of UAV formations, therefore being able to guarantee service persistence in case of nodes’ failure occurrence, as well as to provide required network performance, as a consequence. Simulations performed in OMNeT++ show the efficiency of the proposed solution and prove a promising direction of the solution for accomplishing its purposes.Em regiões de confrontos militares, em cenários pós-catástrofes naturais e, inclusive, em grandes áreas de cultivo agrícola, é comum a ausência de uma infra-estrutura préestabelecida de comunicação entre usuários durante a execução de uma ou mais operações eventuais. Nestes casos, Veículos Aéreos Não Tripulados (VANTs) podem ser vistos como uma alternativa para o estabelecimento de uma rede temporária durante essas missões. Para algumas aplicações, a alta mobilidade destes usuários podem trazem grandes desafios para o gerenciamento autônomo de uma estrutura de comunicação aérea, como a organização espacial dos nós roteadores e as políticas de encaminhamento de pacotes adotadas durante a operação. Tendo isso em vista, esse trabalho apresenta o estudo de uma solução que visa o estabelecimento e manutenção das conexões entre os usuários - nos quais executam tarefas individuais ou colaborativas -, através do uso de algoritmos de coordenação de formação - no qual inclui o algoritmo evolucionário Otimização por Enxame de Partículas -, e, também, de conceitos relacionados a Rede Definidas por Software para o gerenciamento da rede. Ainda, é proposto um novo critério de seleção das partículas do algoritmo evolucionário, visando garantir gerenciabilidade das topologias formadas e, consequentemente, a persistência do serviço em caso de falha dos nós roteadores, assim como o cumprimento de especificações desejadas para o desempenho da rede. Simulações em OMNeT++ mostraram a eficácia da proposta e sustentam o modelo proposto a fim de atingir seus objetivos

Unmanned aerial vehicle communications for civil applications: a review

The use of drones, formally known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), has significantly increased across a variety of applications over the past few years. This is due to the rapid advancement towards the design and production of inexpensive and dependable UAVs and the growing request for the utilization of such platforms particularly in civil applications. With their intrinsic attributes such as high mobility, rapid deployment and flexible altitude, UAVs have the potential to be utilized in many wireless system applications. On the one hand, UAVs are able to operate as flying mobile terminals within wireless/cellular networks to support a variety of missions such as goods delivery, search and rescue, precision agriculture monitoring, and remote sensing. On the other hand, UAVs can be utilized as aerial base stations to increase wireless communication coverage, reliability, and the capacity of wireless systems without additional investment in wireless systems infrastructure. The aim of this article is to review the current applications of UAVs for civil and commercial purposes. The focus of this paper is on the challenges and communication requirements associated with UAV-based communication systems. This article initially classifies UAVs in terms of various parameters, some of which can impact UAVs’ communication performance. It then provides an overview of aerial networking and investigates UAVs routing protocols specifically, which are considered as one of the challenges in UAV communication. This article later investigates the use of UAV networks in a variety of civil applications and considers many challenges and communication demands of these applications. Subsequently, different types of simulation platforms are investigated from a communication and networking viewpoint. Finally, it identifies areas of future research

Architecture design for disaster resilient management network using D2D technology

Huge damages from natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, landslide, tsunamis, have been reported in recent years, claiming many lives, rendering millions homeless and causing huge financial losses worldwide. The lack of effective communication between the public rescue/safety agencies, rescue teams, first responders and trapped survivors/victims makes the situation even worse. Factors like dysfunctional communication networks, limited communications capacity, limited resources/services, data transformation and effective evaluation, energy, and power deficiency cause unnecessary hindrance in rescue and recovery services during a disaster. The new wireless communication technologies are needed to enhance life-saving capabilities and rescue services. In general, in order to improve societal resilience towards natural catastrophes and develop effective communication infrastructure, innovative approaches need to be initiated to provide improved quality, better connectivity in the events of natural and human disasters. In this thesis, a disaster resilient network architecture is proposed and analysed using multi-hop communications, clustering, energy harvesting, throughput optimization, reliability enhancement, adaptive selection, and low latency communications. It also examines the importance of mode selection, power management, frequency and time resource allocation to realize the promises of Long-term Evolution (LTE) Device to Device (D2D) communication. In particular, to support resilient and energy efficient communication in disaster-affected areas. This research is examined by thorough and vigorous simulations and validated through mathematical modelling. Overall, the impact of this research is twofold: i) it provides new technologies for effective inter- and intra-agency coordination system during a disaster event by establishing a stronger and resilient communication; and ii) It offers a potential solution for stakeholders such as governments, rescue teams, and general public with new informed information on how to establish effective policies to cope with challenges before, during and after the disaster events

5G wireless network support using umanned aerial vehicles for rural and low-Income areas

>Magister Scientiae - MScThe fifth-generation mobile network (5G) is a new global wireless standard that enables state-of-the-art mobile networks with enhanced cellular broadband services that support a diversity of devices. Even with the current worldwide advanced state of broadband connectivity, most rural and low-income settings lack minimum Internet connectivity because there are no economic incentives from telecommunication providers to deploy wireless communication systems in these areas. Using a team of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to extend or solely supply the 5G coverage is a great opportunity for these zones to benefit from the advantages promised by this new communication technology. However, the deployment and applications of innovative technology in rural locations need extensive research