An ACO-based cross-layer routing algorithm in space-air-ground integrated networks

Space-air-ground integrated networks (SAGINs) are heterogeneous, self-organizing and time-varying wireless networks providing massive and global connectivity. These three characteristics of SAGINs bring great challenges for routing design. In this paper, the important parameters affecting performance of SAGINs are analyzed, based on which the heterogeneous network framework is described as a vector weighted topology. Instead of a scale, the weighted parameter of the topology is a vector with elements of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), variation of SNR, end-to-end delay and queuing length. To meet the time-varying requirements, a Wiener predictor is adopted for obtaining the estimated channel information, the expectation of queuing delay is also acquired by modeling the process of packets waiting the transmitting buffer as a M/M/1 queuing system. Considering the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm sharing the common decentralized feature with routing algorithm in SAGINs, a novel ACO-based cross-layer routing algorithm for SAGINs is proposed. The proposed algorithm takes the link quality and end-to-end packed delay in the physical layer as deciding factors in searching for optimal routing. Simulations performed in different scenarios show that this proposed algorithm demonstrates a higher packet delivery rate.