On the performance of Flying Ad Hoc Networks (FANETs) utilizing near space high altitude platforms (HAPs)

High altitude platforms (HAPs) and Flying Ad Hoc Networks (FANETs) are some of the most promising technologies for both military and civilian near space wireless networks. HAP systems usually reside on stratospheric altitudes up to 25 km and have the advantages of flexible deployment, wide area coverage and line-of-sight propagation, compared to ground or satellite based systems. Also Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) have the ability for persistent flight over periods of days to weeks which cannot be achieved by manned aircrafts. Thus, utilization of FANETs in conjunction with HAP stations would present numerous advantages over traditional networking. However one of the most challenging issue for FANETs is the awareness of the locations of the neighboring UAVs. It is vital for FANET scenarios in the sense of reliability, security and collision avoidance. In this study we investigate how HAP&FANET architectures can be usefully employed in such scenarios. We propose a Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol which we name as Location Oriented Directional MAC (LODMAC) protocol. LODMAC successfully handles the neighbor discovery and data transmission in parallel with the help of directional antennas. Also we present the capacity gain of LODMAC protocol which verify that it is a good alternative for HAP&FANET based scenarios.