Broadcast Storm Problem Mitigation Technique for FANETs

Flying Ad-Hoc Networks (FANETs) are dynamic, self-organizing networks that facilitate communication between unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) without requiring centralized infrastructure. Unlike traditional Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks (MANETs), FANETs typically have a dynamic structure, and communication between devices is constantly changing. In FANETs, UAVs must ensure the coordination of this dynamic structure by transmitting or retransmitting status-reporting messages. However, unless there are factors limiting this communication, there is a high probability that radio signals will physically overlap with another signal, leading to redundancy, contention, and collision, known as the broadcast storm problem. In this paper, we propose a neighbor-count-prioritized GPS-based algorithm to mitigate the broadcast storm problem. This algorithm enables UAVs to compare their own status with their neighbors, allowing for more selective message forwarding scheme and reducing redundant transmission.