Using Autonomous Air Vehicle in DTN Sensor Network for Environmental Observation

In the environmental and ecology observation, the sensor network has been commonly used, but it is difficult to deploy it in a vast field or some special environments such as a forest or a mountainous area. To solve this problem, we propose a new sensor network system based on a DTN technology to collect environmental observation data automatically using an autonomous air vehicle. In particular, an autonomous flight algorithm for the air vehicle using GPS sensor is developed. We have also performed some experiments to evaluate practicality of the proposed system.