Wireless Communications and Networking for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Ground Mobile Robots, and Marine Vehicles

A special issue of Future Internet (ISSN 1999-5903). This special issue belongs to the section "Smart System Infrastructure and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2024 | Viewed by 4457

Special Issue Editor

School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Interests: robot navigation; deployment of drones; unmanned aerial vehicles; control of wireless communication networks; control of power systems; robust control and filtering; hybrid dynamical systems; control engineering; biomedical engineering
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue titled “Wireless Communications and Networking for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Ground Mobile Robots, and Marine Vehicles” of the journal Future Internet is devoted to recent trends and advancements made in the field of networked unmanned vehicles. In the last few years, networked unmanned aerial vehicles, ground mobile robots, and marine vehicles, such as autonomous underwater vehicles and unmanned surface vehicles, have attracted a lot of attention due to their growing use in numerous applications, such as environmental monitoring, rescue operations, policing, sensor data collection, mobile edge computing, video surveillance, product deliveries, smart agriculture, mining, wireless communication network support, and eavesdropping.

The goal of this Special Issue is to provide an overview of the latest developments in the field of wireless communication and networking for autonomous unmanned vehicles. Both theoretical and technical aspects are of interest.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to deployment and navigation of UAV networks for communication, surveillance, data collection and mobile edge computing, UAV networks in rescue missions,  UAV-assisted covert surveillance and eavesdropping, path planning for UAV networks, UAVs collaborating with ground vehicles, and collaborative navigation of autonomous underwater vehicles and unmanned marine vehicles.

Prof. Dr. Andrey V. Savkin
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
  • ground mobile vehicles
  • networks of unmanned vehicles
  • wireless communication for unmanned vehicles
  • navigation and path planning
  • control of networked unmanned vehicles
  • internet of vehicles
  • applications of networks on unmanned vehicles
  • UAV surveillance and monitoring
  • collision-free autonomous navigation
  • autonomous underwater vehicles
  • unmanned surface vehicles

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 12842 KiB  
Article
Flying Watchdog-Based Guard Patrol with Check Point Data Verification
by Endrowednes Kuantama, Avishkar Seth, Alice James and Yihao Zhang
Future Internet 2023, 15(10), 340; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi15100340 - 16 Oct 2023
Viewed by 1465
Abstract
The effectiveness of human security-based guard patrol systems often faces challenges related to the consistency of perimeter checks regarding timing and patterns. Some solutions use autonomous drones for monitoring assistance but primarily optimize their camera-based object detection capabilities for favorable lighting conditions. This [...] Read more.
The effectiveness of human security-based guard patrol systems often faces challenges related to the consistency of perimeter checks regarding timing and patterns. Some solutions use autonomous drones for monitoring assistance but primarily optimize their camera-based object detection capabilities for favorable lighting conditions. This research introduces an innovative approach to address these limitations—a flying watchdog designed to augment patrol operations with predetermined flight patterns, enabling checkpoint identification and position verification through vision-based methods. The system has a laser-based data transmitter to relay real-time location and timing information to a receiver. The proposed system consists of drone and ground checkpoints with distinctive shapes and colored lights, further enhanced by solar panels serving as laser data receivers. The result demonstrates the drone’s ability to detect four white dot LEDs with square configurations at distances ranging from 18 to 20 m, even under deficient light conditions based on the OpenCV detection algorithm. Notably, the study underscores the significance of achieving an even distribution of light shapes to mitigate light scattering effects on readings while also confirming that ambient light levels up to a maximum of 390 Lux have no adverse impact on the performance of the sensing device. Full article
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24 pages, 5387 KiB  
Article
Cluster-Based Data Aggregation in Flying Sensor Networks Enabled Internet of Things
by Abdu Salam, Qaisar Javaid, Masood Ahmad, Ishtiaq Wahid and Muhammad Yeasir Arafat
Future Internet 2023, 15(8), 279; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi15080279 - 20 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1226
Abstract
Multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are organized into clusters in a flying sensor network (FSNet) to achieve scalability and prolong the network lifetime. There are a variety of optimization schemes that can be adapted to determine the cluster head (CH) and to form [...] Read more.
Multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are organized into clusters in a flying sensor network (FSNet) to achieve scalability and prolong the network lifetime. There are a variety of optimization schemes that can be adapted to determine the cluster head (CH) and to form stable and balanced clusters. Similarly, in FSNet, duplicated data may be transmitted to the CHs when multiple UAVs monitor activities in the vicinity where an event of interest occurs. The communication of duplicate data may consume more energy and bandwidth than computation for data aggregation. This paper proposes a honey-bee algorithm (HBA) to select the optimal CH set and form stable and balanced clusters. The modified HBA determines CHs based on the residual energy, UAV degree, and relative mobility. To transmit data, the UAV joins the nearest CH. The re-affiliation rate decreases with the proposed stable clustering procedure. Once the cluster is formed, ordinary UAVs transmit data to their UAVs-CH. An aggregation method based on dynamic programming is proposed to save energy consumption and bandwidth. The data aggregation procedure is applied at the cluster level to minimize communication and save bandwidth and energy. Simulation experiments validated the proposed scheme. The simulation results are compared with recent cluster-based data aggregation schemes. The results show that our proposed scheme outperforms state-of-the-art cluster-based data aggregation schemes in FSNet. Full article
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Review

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31 pages, 3700 KiB  
Review
Cross-Layer Methods for Ad Hoc Networks—Review and Classification
by Valeriy Ivanov and Maxim Tereshonok
Future Internet 2024, 16(1), 29; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi16010029 - 16 Jan 2024
Viewed by 1095
Abstract
The OSI model used to be a common network model for years. In the case of ad hoc networks with dynamic topology and difficult radio communications conditions, gradual departure is happening from the classical kind of OSI network model with a clear delineation [...] Read more.
The OSI model used to be a common network model for years. In the case of ad hoc networks with dynamic topology and difficult radio communications conditions, gradual departure is happening from the classical kind of OSI network model with a clear delineation of layers (physical, channel, network, transport, application) to the cross-layer approach. The layers of the network model in ad hoc networks strongly influence each other. Thus, the cross-layer approach can improve the performance of an ad hoc network by jointly developing protocols using interaction and collaborative optimization of multiple layers. The existing cross-layer methods classification is too complicated because it is based on the whole manifold of network model layer combinations, regardless of their importance. In this work, we review ad hoc network cross-layer methods, propose a new useful classification of cross-layer methods, and show future research directions in the development of ad hoc network cross-layer methods. The proposed classification can help to simplify the goal-oriented cross-layer protocol development. Full article
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: Flying Watchdog-based Guard Patrol with Check Point Data Verification
Authors: Endrowednes Kuantama (1); Avishkar Seth (2); Alice James (2); Yihao Zhang (1)
Affiliation: 1 School of Computing, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia; 2 School of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia
Abstract: Currently, the human security-based guard patrol system is limited by its consistency in perimeter check time and pattern. Some use autonomous drones to assist with monitoring, but their camera-based object detection is primarily effective in favorable lighting conditions. This work proposes a novel development of a flying watchdog to assist in patrol, which is also capable of lowlight conditions. The system is divided into drone and ground checkpoints. The drone has a predetermined flight pattern and is equipped with a laser-based data transmitter to send real-time time and location to the detector. OpenCV algorithm enables color and shape vision detection in the dark. The laser intensity sensing method sends a data log to each checkpoint. The ground checkpoint has a unique shape and color light and is integrated with solar panels as a laser data receiver. The results show that ground points measuring 25 cm (width) x 25 cm (length) can be detected by drones at 10m with 650 px resolution. The scattering of light shape can affect the reading, so an even distribution of light shape is critical, and ambient light with a maximum of 250 Lux does not affect the reading of the sensing device.

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