Communication architectures and protocols for networking unmanned aerial vehicles

A fundamental but challenging problem in cooperation and control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is efficient networking of the UAVs over the wireless medium in rapidly changing environments. In this paper, we introduce four communication architectures for networking UAVs and review some military communication standards applicable to UAV communications. After discussions of pros and cons of each communication architecture, we conclude that a UAV ad hoc network is the most appropriate architecture to network a team of UAVs, while a multi-layer UAV ad hoc network is more suitable for multiple groups of heterogeneous UAVs. By comparing various legacy and next-generation military data link systems, we highlight that one important feature of the next-generation waveforms is their capability of Internet protocol (IP) based ad hoc networking, which allows UAVs to communicate with each other in a single- or multi-layer UAV ad hoc networks.