Filling the Communication Gaps in Drone Delivery

Lailla M. S. Bine, Azzedine Boukerche, Linnyer B. Ruiz, Antonio A. F. Loureiro

Abstract: The Internet of Drones (IoD) is expected to revolutionize the utilization of drones in urban environments. Drone delivery applications are expected to become commonplace in people's everyday lives. Such applications will establish a network where drones will have organized airspace access, with variations in network node density based on location and time. Within this environment, the IoD network may encounter communication gaps among drones. In scenarios like drone delivery, altering a drone's route solely for message delivery within the network is impractical. We aim to deploy an auxiliary drone network to support IoD applications, similar to using auxiliary networks in vehicular networks for message delivery. This study introduces the AuxIoD method, which utilizes a genetic algorithm to position auxiliary drones strategically, bridging communication gaps within the IoD network. Compared to other strategies, our approach facilitated the delivery of approximately 30% more messages in the evaluated scenario.