UAV Routing Protocol Based on Link Stability and Selectivity of Neighbor Nodes in ETX Metrics

Abstract

With the extensive application of UAVs in various fields, it becomes more important to design a routing protocol that ensures stable transmit between UAV groups. This is because UAV groups are densely packed, move fast, and communication links are fragile. Aiming at the intensive and highly maneuverable UAV group, the AODV-NLS-ETX—a routing protocol based on the link stability of neighbor nodes—is proposed on the basis of the ETX metric based AODV protocol. The protocol is simulated and compared with other protocols. The simulation results show that AODV-NLS-ETX is superior to other protocols in packet delivery rate and throughput under high shift speed, dense nodes, and high routing overhead. It can effectively reduce the high delay brought by the ETX mechanism. The delay is the most stable and is not easy to cause network congestion. It can be better applied to dense and highly mobile unmanned aerial vehicles.