RSTrS: A Reliable and Stable Data Transmission Scheme via OLSR and Network Coding in FANET

Flying ad hoc networks (FANETs) use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to build a wireless network with special properties. The transmission of data between UAVs in FANETs has become a key area of research. However, they are confronted with many challenges and difficulties, which are due to the high mobility of UAVs, the frequent packet losses, and the weak links between UAVs, all affecting the reliability of the data delivery. Several enhancements exist to address the above issues, but most of these are simple improvements over traditional mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) approaches such as vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) and wireless sensor networks (WSNs), and cannot be fully adapted to FANETs with their unique properties, even ignoring the requirements for data transmission between UAVs. In light of these limitations, we propose a novel transmission scheme based on an optimized link state routing (OLSR) protocol and network coding for efficient and reliable data transmission in FANET. Compared to the state-of-the-art, the novelty of this scheme is to improve and integrate two coding algorithms into the transmission process based on the characteristics of FANET. In addition, it considers factors such as link stability, coding gain, and node congestion during the multipoint relay (MPR) election phase, thereby enhancing the transmission performance of FANET. Experimental results showed that the proposed approach compensates for the existing methods’ inability to manage high mobility and frequent topology changes, and addresses the issues of unstable link election and substantial packet loss.