AANET

Zhengmao Chen

We present our effort toward a better understanding of the novel aerial ad-hoc networking paradigm. In this paradigm, low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with wireless communication capability are used to assist networking among a set of ground stations. This new paradigm is attractive because UAVs can be dynamically deployed in a wide variety of geographical territories. Furthermore, UAVs often have high-quality, line-of-sight communication links with other UAVs and ground stations because aerial links usually suffer relatively little shadowing compared with their terrestrial counterparts. We also emphasize the use of commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) components because of their high performance and economical cost, thanks to the positive cycle between market demand and technology advancement. We further motivate this study by showing that the new paradigm can help solve...