Connectivity analysis and its application to routing protocol in aviation ad hoc network

Abstract

Traveling by air has become popular in society nowadays. The grid of flight routes covers widely all over world. Satellite communication link is the unique medium for flights when they pass over remote area outside of ground stations' coverage area. Applying ad hoc network to bypass high cost and long delay satellite links is a topic that is attracting many research. High mobility, sparse space distribution, and long communication distance are challenges in order for aviation ad hoc network (AANET) to become true. Network connectivity and communication reliability are targets of this dissertation. At first, connectivity analytical model of a general one-dimensional ad hoc network was derived. Then it was applied to present exactly the dependence of connectedness probability on system parameters of AANET on a flight path. This model can be used in network design, and to evaluate network connectivity in various conditions. It can also be used in network design. The effect of connectivity on network performance was analyzed and formulated. Employing AANET characteristic that aircraft in vicinity can know position and velocity of each other, novel link longevity based routing mechanisms were proposed to improve network communication reliability. In study new routing mechanisms, we derived a new link longevity estimation model that can be applied flexibly in reality without neighbors' transmission range knowledge. Network performance can be improved by the proper value of the threshold signal to inference and noise ratio parameter of this model. We obtained the expected routing performance from the experiment of AANET within distance of $1000 Nm between the ground station and aircraft.