Assessment of software-defined UAVs operating in remote areas

Abstract

The flexibility of programmable networks is proposed in this research to revolutionize UAV management by providing optimum performance independent of network density or individual UAV distance. For greater control and administration of drone networks, we recommend deploying software-defined networking (SDN). Extensive comparative testing across three SDN controllers has highlighted the significant effect controller selection may have on network performance: bandwidth, packet loss, mobility, and resilience are all significantly impacted. A Mininet-WiFi SDN network emulators was used to perform drone simulations in the selected controller. This study looked at the implementation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in three different Software-Defined Networking (SDN) controllers: ODL, Floodlight, and RYU. Four scenarios were simulated for each controller, with a constant topology and various numbers of UAVs (15, 20, 25, and 30+) stationed at varied distances (60, 80, 100, and 100+ meters) from each controller. The results of the practical experiments conducted in this work are analyzed and discussed in the “Results and Discussion” section.