Comparative Performance Analysis of Olsr, Batman-Adv, and Babel in Uav Mesh Networks

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been increasingly applied in different scenarios, requiring efficient communication networks to handle swarm operations that rely on dynamic ad-hoc infrastructures without fixed support. Mesh architecture, with its ability to offer multipath communications, emerges as a solution to overcome the challenges imposed by high mobility and frequent topology changes. This study, carried out in a real environment with Raspberry Pi devices, compared the routing protocols OLSR, BATMAN-ADV, and Babel, justifying their choices based on the observed performance: OLSR demonstrated greater stability and efficiency for variable traffic loads due to its rapid route adaptation. Babel stood out in highly-mobility scenarios because it presented lower latency, attributed to its agile information update. At the same time, BATMAN-ADV, although efficient in certain conditions, showed greater resource consumption and instability under heavy traffic. The main contribution of this article lies in the detailed comparative analysis of the three protocols in a real environment, analyzing the practical characteristics for selecting the most appropriate routing protocol according to the specific requirements of each application scenario.