Routing Performance Evaluation in Centralized and Distributed FANETs for 6G Networks

The advent of 5G and the anticipated evolution to 6G networks need the development of efficient routing protocols to manage the increasing complexity and heterogeneity of network infrastructures. This paper presents a design proposal for two different types of networks: a centralized architecture for 5G networks and a distributed counterpart suitable for 6G networks. Furthermore, the work proposes modifications to the Q-FANET protocol to enhance its adaptability and efficiency in the context of 6G networks, called D-QFANET, to address specific challenges inherent to distributed each network topologies, such as the need for rapid decision-making in centralized architectures and the necessity for decentralized coordination in distributed environments. Then, the routing performance of Q-FANET and D-QFANET is tested for the different architectures (centralized and distributed, respectively), in terms of key network metrics such as delay and jitter. The results demonstrate that D-QFANET exhibits promising performance improvements over conventional routing protocols in distributed network topologies.