Ant Colony Optimization in Ad Hoc Networks: A Comprehensive Survey

In the interlinked globe of present-day, rapid transformation of technology presents numerous challenges. The development of smart cities, equipped with intelligent appliances, is essential for ef icient management of communication between machines and humans. Networking plays a pivotal role in building smart cities with advanced devices, and optimizing performance remains a critical concern. In this review article, Weconcentrate on a specific type of wireless network - ad hoc networks and analyze current research onanature-inspired algorithm, Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), to enhance their ef iciency. This paper provides an extensive review of the use of Ant Colony Optimization or ACO applied to MANETs, andVANETs, moreover FANETs from 2021 to 2024. Additionally, it examines the characteristics andapplications of various ad hoc networks, provides a detailed discussion on the Ant Colony Optimizationalgorithm, and highlights key challenges along with future research directions. It is hoped that this paper will be a useful resource for scholars in this area.