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This paper presents a communication network for a squadron of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to be used in the scanning rocket impact area for Barreira do Inferno Launch Center—CLBI (Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil), aiming at detecting intruder boats. The main features of communication networks associated with multi-UAV systems are presented. This system sends information through Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). After comparing and analyzing area scanning strategies, it presents the specification of a data communication network architecture for a squadron of UAVs within a sensor network using XBee Pro 900HP S3B modules. A brief description is made about the initial information from the construction of the system. The embedded hardware and the design procedure of a dedicated communication antenna to the XBee modules are presented. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed architecture in terms of robustness and reliability, a set of experimental tests in different communication scenarios is carried out. Network management software is employed to measure the throughput, packet loss and other performance indicators in the communication links between the different network nodes. Experimental results allow verifying the quality and performance of the network nodes, as well as the reliability of the communication links, assessing signal received quality, range and latency.

This paper proposes a communication protocol for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) using ZigBee technology. A review of the state-of-the-art of Flying Ad-hoc Networks (FANETs) and its main respective technologies is presented in detail. A comparison among Long Term Evaluation (LTE), WiFi, and ZigBee is performed, thus showing that ZigBee stands out as a good alternative to scenarios without proper infrastructure. A Raspberry Pi 3 Model B board associated with module XBEE PRO S3B 915 MHz is embedded in a UAV model DJI Phantom 3 Standard to carry out the tests. The obtained results show that the adopted protocol is capable of sending and receiving images between the UAV and the ground station. Tests are also performed using a flying aircraft, where it is demonstrated that the transmission is successfully executed for all cases and the communication protocol operates accurately. In addition, a brief analysis of the time interval required by the process is presented, as there are no significant differences among the existing scenarios. INDEX TERMS Unmanned aerial vehicles, communication networks, protocols, zigbee, mobile ad-hoc networks.