TARCS: A Topology Change Aware-Based Routing Protocol Choosing Scheme of FANETs

Abstract

The rapid change of topology is one of the most important factors affecting the performance of the routing protocols of flying ad hoc networks (FANETs). A routing scheme suitable for highly dynamic mobile ad hoc networks is proposed for the rapid change of topology in complex scenarios. In the scheme moving nodes sense changes of the surrounding network topology periodically, and the current mobile scenario is confirmed according to the perceived result. Furthermore, a suitable routing protocol is selected for maintaining network performances at a high level. The concerned performance metrics are packet delivery ratio, network throughput, average end-to-end delay and average jitter. The experiments combine the random waypoint model, the reference point group mobility model and the pursue model to a chain scenario, and simulate the large changes of the network topology. Results show that an appropriate routing scheme can adapt to rapid changes in network topology and effectively improve network performance.