Aerial networking communication solutions using Micro Air Vehicle (MAV)

The application of a Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) for wireless networking is slowly gaining significance in the field of network robotics. Aerial transport of data requires efficient network protocols along with accurate positional adjustment of the MAV to minimize transaction times. In our proof of concept, we develop an Aerial networking protocol for data transfer using the technology of Disruption Tolerant Networks (DTN), a store-and-forward approach for environments that deals with disrupted connectivity. Our results show that close interaction between networking and ight behavior helps in efficient data exchange. Potential applications are in areas where network infrastructure is minimal or unavailable and distances may be large. For example, forwarding video recordings during search and rescue, agriculture, swarm communication, among several others. A practical implementation and validation, as described in this paper, presents the complex dynamics of wireless environments and poses new challenges that are not addressed in earlier work on this topic. Several tests are evaluated in a practical setup to display the networking MAV behavior during such an operation.