A comparative analysis of mobility models for network of UAVs

Abstract

Flying Adhoc Network (FANET) is an emerging research area gaining lot of attention of researchers nowadays. FANET as the name suggests, is an ad hoc network of Unarmed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) flying in the space and forming a connected network to accomplish a common task with cooperation of each other. Mobility of nodes in such networks has always been a challenging task and thus researchers have proposed many solutions over the time for directing nodes mobility within the region of interest. Since, FANET nodes tend to move at much greater speed as compared to nodes in other networks like mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) and drain more energy pertaining to its self-organizing nature, various new mobility models have been suggested and traditional models for MANET have been modified in accordance with the need of FANETs. In this paper, we present comparative study of both old as well as the new mobility models. A systematic comparative analysis is done based on certain parameters like their ability to cover the area, maintenance of connectivity, collision avoidance and energy consumption. Also, the paper explores some future directions and research problems related to the FANETs.