FANETs in Agriculture - A routing protocol survey

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 co-operation and collaboration among UAVs. In this study, an extensive review of Flying Adhoc 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. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.