Trajectory influence on data collection in Wireless Sensor Networks using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Data collection is one of the most important parts in the communication process of wireless sensors. Without a proper mechanism to gather data, any further action is inefficient. Data aggregation, processing and decision making are only possible after data is collected. For this reason, this paper studies the impact of trajectories on data collection in an environment where a mobile unmanned aerial vehicle is deployed to gather information from ground sensors. Different mobility patterns have been taken into consideration to observe how collection efficiency is affected. Simulations were deployed in Network Simulator 2, version 2.34 and results are revealed in Section IV.