FANETs in Agriculture - A routing protocol survey

Abstract

Breakthrough advances on communication technology, electronics and sensors have led to integrated commercialized products ready to be deployed in several domains. Agriculture is and has always been a domain that adopts state of the art technologies in time, in order to optimize productivity, cost, convenience, and environmental protection. The deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in agriculture constitutes a recent example. A timely topic in UAV deployment is the transition from a single UAV system to a multi-UAV system. Collaboration and coordination of multiple UAVs can build a system that far exceeds the capabilities of a single UAV. However, one of the most important design problems multi-UAV systems face is choosing the right routing protocol which is prerequisite for the cooperation and collaboration among UAVs. In this study, an extensive review of Flying Ad-hoc network (FANET) routing protocols is performed, where their different strategies and routing techniques are thoroughly described. A classification of UAV deployment in agriculture is conducted resulting in six (6) different applications: Crop Scouting, Crop Surveying and Mapping, Crop Insurance, Cultivation Planning and Management, Application of Chemicals,and Geofencing. Finally, a theoretical analysis is performed that suggests which routing protocol can serve better each agriculture application, depending on the mobility models and the agricultural-specific application requirements.