Design of hierarchical routing protocol for heterogeneous airborne ad hoc networks

Due to recent research interests in airborne ad hoc networks, many research works have been conducted in each layer by developing communication protocols which take into unique properties of node (aircraft) as well as operating environments account. Among them, as the research efforts in network layer, several routing protocols have been proposed to improve packet delivery ratio even though a node moves faster than one in existing ad hoc networks. Related to routing protocol, as proved in many previous research works, hierarchical routing protocol can be considered as appropriate approach in airborne ad hoc networks due to its stability against dynamic change on topology. To meet above demand, in this paper, we present how to form two level hierarchies for heterogeneous networks by extending current geographical routing protocol. Furthermore, the proposed scheme introduces how to improve the packet delivery ratio by applying DTN (Delay Tolerant Networks) routing protocol adaptively for network partition. Simulation results are given to prove suitability of proposed protocol in heterogeneous airborne ad hoc networks.