Multipath hybrid Ad hoc networks for avionics applications in disaster area

During natural or manmade disasters, communication infrastructures break down due to massive destruction and subsequent loss of services. Effective rescue operations require a rapidly deployable high bandwidth network to carry out necessary relief efforts involving helicopters up in the sky and first responders on the ground. However, transmitting video and running high bandwidth applications over the network consisting of RF (Radio Frequency) links is challenging. Our aim is to develop an avionics system consisting of a fast, high bandwidth, self configurable and reliable network for rapidly establishing communication among the helicopters and first responders in a disaster area. The concept of using FSO (Free Space Optics) link as the primary and RF as the backup link has been introduced in this paper. We develop an Ad Hoc routing protocol for computing multiple “FSO only” paths to ensure faster communication among the nodes, and using “hybrid paths” consisting of a mixture of FSO and RF links as a backup. Our routing protocol, referred to as Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector Hybrid (AODVH), has been compared with other Ad hoc routing protocols using ns-2 simulations. It was found that AODVH performs better than others in terms of packet loss, average delay and throughput.