A Mesh in the Sky: A Routing Protocol for Airborne Networks

Conventional ad hoc routing protocols face challenges in airborne network due to aircraft movement, which often results in intermittent links and can cause dramatic topology changes. In this paper, we propose a cluster-based reactive routing protocol to alleviate these problems. Our solution takes advantage of mesh routers installed in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or aircraft capable of hovering, when such airborne assets are available. As those mesh points usually have relatively stable connections among themselves, they play the role of cluster heads, forming a hierarchical routing structure. A simple self-organizing rule is introduced in cluster management to limit the cluster control overhead and route discovery flooding. In addition, a disruption tolerant mechanism (DTM) can be deployed in the routing protocol to increase resilience to temporary link or node failure.