DP<i>k</i>CR: Distributed Proactive <i>k</i>-Connectivity Recovery Algorithm for UAV-Based MANETs

Maintenance of connectivity in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) and especially in flying ad hoc networks, consisting of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), has crucial importance. Missions planned within these types of networks can be interrupted due to node failures, link errors, etc. This case becomes more critical when the application is heavily communication-dependent. To alleviate such problems, in this article, we propose a distributed proactive k-connectivity recovery algorithm (DPkCR) for UAV-based MANETs. To this end, the algorithm has been developed and tested by providing realistic scenarios. The time and message complexity analysis of the algorithm is presented. Moreover, to analyze the performance of the proposed algorithm, we compared it with other k-connectivity restoration algorithms in the literature. Simulation results revealed that DPkCR outperforms the alternatives in terms of convergence time for the recovery phase and, subsequently, in terms of energy consumption. Furthermore, DPkCR provides improvements to the bandwidth requirements for the restoration.