CDS-based Topology Control in FANETs via Power and Position Optimization

In a flying ad hoc network (FANET), reliable maintenance of topology confronts a huge challenge due to the highly time-varying connectivity between flying nodes. Aiming at mitigating this issue, this letter proposes a connected dominating set (CDS) based topology control mechanism iteratively for the FANETs by solving a jointed optimization problem on adjusting the node’s transmission power and position during the construction of CDS. In particular, a well-tailored group of the topology constructing and maintaining algorithms are developed with a time-discretized approach. Simulation results show that the proposed mechanism has a better performance with respects to overheads and network stability than a general particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, especially in a typical swarm pattern for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) team.