{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,17]],"date-time":"2026-04-17T07:49:54Z","timestamp":1776412194930,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,30]],"date-time":"2024-08-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1724976000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Technology Development Projects of Norinco Group","award":["JA2022013"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JA2022013"]}]},{"name":"Technology Development Projects of Norinco Group","award":["ZD032023103-04"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZD032023103-04"]}]},{"name":"Major Scientific and Technological Innovation Projects of Norinco Group","award":["JA2022013"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JA2022013"]}]},{"name":"Major Scientific and Technological Innovation Projects of Norinco Group","award":["ZD032023103-04"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZD032023103-04"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Neighbor discovery and tracking with directional antennas in flying ad hoc networks (FANETs) is a challenging issue because of dispersed node distribution and irregular maneuvers in three-dimensional (3D) space. In this paper, we propose an adaptive 3D neighbor discovery and tracking algorithm in battlefield FANETs with directional antennas. With time synchronization, a flying node transmits\/receives the neighbor discovery packets sequentially in each beam around it to execute a two-way handshake for neighbor discovery. The transmitting or receiving status of each discovery slot depends on the binary code corresponding to the identification of the node. Discovered neighbor nodes exchange their 3D positions in tracking slots periodically for node tracking, and the maximum tracking period is determined by node velocity, beamwidth, and the minimum distance between nodes. By configuring the relevant parameters, the proposed algorithm can also apply to two-dimensional planar ad hoc networks. The simulation results suggest that the proposed algorithm can achieve shorter neighbor discovery time and longer link survival time in comparison with the random scanning algorithm in scenarios with narrow beamwidth and wide moving area. When the frame length increases, the protocol overhead decreases but the average neighbor discovery time increases. The suitable frame length should be determined based on the network range, node count, beamwidth, and node mobility characteristics.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s24175655","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,30]],"date-time":"2024-08-30T10:54:11Z","timestamp":1725015251000},"page":"5655","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["An Adaptive 3D Neighbor Discovery and Tracking Algorithm in Battlefield Flying Ad Hoc Networks with Directional Antennas"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"Yunjie","family":"Yuan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Xi\u2019an Electronic Engineering Research Institute of China, Xi\u2019an 710100, China"}]},{"given":"Gongye","family":"Ren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Xi\u2019an Electronic Engineering Research Institute of China, Xi\u2019an 710100, China"}]},{"given":"Xingyu","family":"Cai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Xi\u2019an Electronic Engineering Research Institute of China, Xi\u2019an 710100, China"}]},{"given":"Xuguang","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Computer Application Technology, Norinco Group, Beijing 100089, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"83996","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2023.3303211","article-title":"5G and Beyond Private Military Communication: Trend, Requirements, Challenges and Enablers","volume":"11","author":"Bajracharya","year":"2023","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102589","DOI":"10.1016\/j.adhoc.2021.102589","article-title":"Energy Efficient Routing for Wireless Mesh Networks with Directional Antennas: When Q-learning meets Ant systems","volume":"121","author":"Zitoune","year":"2021","journal-title":"Ad Hoc Netw."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2773","DOI":"10.1109\/JSAC.2022.3196320","article-title":"Antenna Array Enabled Space\/Air\/Ground Communications and Networking for 6G","volume":"40","author":"Xiao","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE J. 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