A Survey on Handover Techniques, Challenges, and Evolving Solutions for FANETs

Flying ad hoc networks formed by coordinated unmanned aerial vehicles are a critical emerging paradigm for modern wireless communication in civilian, industrial, and military sectors. As UAVs become more mobile and intelligent, ensuring seamless handover in such 3D dynamic environments presents significant challenges. This paper surveys recent advancements and core challenges in handover management in FANETs, focusing on mobility issues, routing complexities, and emerging technologies including machine learning and optical communications. Moreover, a novel energy efficient handover management approach is proposed in this work leveraging dynamic operational modes such as active, sleep, and hibernate states for UAVs supported by reinforced learning techniques. The proposed framework lays the groundwork for future implementation and evaluation of energy-aware UAV operations, addressing key challenges in prolonging UAV mission duration while maintaining seamless connectivity.