A multi-UAV clustering strategy for reducing insecure communication range

Wu, J., Zou, L., Zhao, L., Al-Dubai, A., Mackenzie, L. and Min, G. (2019) A multi-UAV clustering strategy for reducing insecure communication range. Computer Networks, 158, pp. 132-142. (doi: 10.1016/j.comnet.2019.04.028)

Abstract

Multi-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight formations can be deployed to monitor large areas. Individual UAVs communicate and exchange information while formation flying. but, such communication presents a security risk. The area between the UAV group range and the group communication range is called the insecurity range and in this region multi-UAV communication can cause serious information leakage. To resolve this problem, this paper considers two aspects, namely, cooperative control and secure communication. To implement cooperative control, a clustering algorithm is presented to accelerate the speed at which the multi-UAV formation converges. By setting the flight control factor to accelerate the convergence of multi-UAV, the UAV group forms a flock. To facilitate secure communication, the hierarchical virtual communication ring (HVCR) strategy is deployed to reduce the boundary of group communication and minimize the insecure range. The effectiveness of the clustering algorithm and HVCR strategy is demonstrated via theoretical analysis and experiments. In the case of 50 and 100 nodes, the results show that the clustering algorithm can facilitate multi-UAV group flocks. In the case of 25, 30, 35 and 40 nodes, the HVCR strategy can reduce the relative size of the insecure range to 65.33%, 62.95%, 61.50% and 60.55%, respectively.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work is partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation for Young Scientists of China (61701322), the Key Projects of Liaoning Natural Science Foundation (20170540700), the Liaoning Provincial Department of Education Science Foundation (L201630), the Liaoning Provincial Department of Education Innovation Person Foundation(2018059) and the Naval Research Institute Innovation Foundation (NA-Z201801-JJ0-TQ009).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Mackenzie, Dr Lewis
• Authors: Wu, J., Zou, L., Zhao, L., Al-Dubai, A., Mackenzie, L., and Min, G.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• Journal Name: Computer Networks
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 1389-1286
• ISSN (Online): 1872-7069
• Published Online: 03 May 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V.
• First Published: First published in Computer Networks 158: 132-142
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy