A Holistic Communication Approach to Support UAVs and Ground Sensors in Precision Agriculture

Agriculture is an important economic sector, representing a significant part of the gross domestic product of many countries providing essential resources for human sustenance. In this context, Precision Agriculture (PA) has emerged as a transformative concept with the potential to revolutionize farming practices. One of the key enabling technologies for PA is the Internet of Things (IoT), which enables the collection and sharing of data across the Internet. However, implementing efficient IoT-based agricultural systems poses significant challenges, particularly in managing data traffic and ensuring reliable communication and data availability. This work addresses these challenges by proposing the adoption of Information-Centric Networking (ICN) with a forwarding strategy designed to mitigate the broadcast storm problem. Additionally, it introduces a logic for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to operate as Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) while collecting data from field sensors in an ICN-based network and long-haul communication supported by High-Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS) and Satellites to guarantee remote data access. These contributions aim to enhance the efficiency and reliability of data acquisition and dissemination in IoT-enabled PA systems.