Distributed Protocol for Maximizing Sampling Frequency of Spectrum Reconnaissance UAV Clusters

Nowadays, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) clusters are widely used in military and civil scenarios to perform spectrum reconnaissance. In this task, a high sampling frequency is desirable, but it results in a large volume of data that may not be transmitted through the wireless network. The problem boils down to what a good sampling frequency is and how to find it. There is an unknown dynamic sampling frequency threshold exceeding which leads to high packet loss. To find this threshold and achieve the maximum sampling frequency, we propose a distributed protocol based on binary search to find the best sampling frequency, taking consideration of performance metrics like latency, stability, reliability, and search times. Under the premise of limited bandwidth and consistent spectrum sampling frequency of UAVs, our protocol can dynamically adjust the spectrum sampling frequency at the application layer. We have built a network application on the EXata simulation platform to analyze the performance of the proposed protocol. The simulation results show that the protocol improves the efficiency and survivability of spectrum reconnaissance.