Abstract: A Flying Adhoc Network (FANET) is a novel ad-hoc network that clusters tiny Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in an ad-hoc manner. Such networks have many issues while designing an effective Routing Protocol (RP) because of high node (UAV) mobility, limited resources, low UAV densities, etc. To tackle this problem, an Energy-aware and Predictive Fuzzy Logic (EPFL)-based RP was designed, which computes the score of each UAV based on the different parameters and applies the fuzzy logic to select the best route. However, data transmission is influenced by unstable transmission links and inadequate resources. This can be solved by opportunistic transmission based on the store-copy-forward strategy. But, it degrades Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) by transmitting more data copies to improper relay UAVs. Hence, this article designs an EPFL with a Consistent Link-based Copy adaptive Transmit (EPFL-CLCT)-RP to regulate the data transmission in FANETs. In this protocol, the real-time variations of network connectivity are initially determined by the data gathered from every adjacent UAV. Then, the CLCT mechanism is proposed, which utilizes the historical data and transitivity of the UAV interactions to choose suitable relay UAVs. Also, the Transmit Prediction Value (TPV) is determined as the measuring criterion to reduce the transmission of multiple data packet replicas during the data transmission task. Finally, the simulation outcomes illustrate that the EPFL-CLCT-RP outperforms other classical RPs.

FANET, Unmanned aerial vehicle, Routing, Fuzzy logic, Network connectivity, Copy adaptive routing, Dynamic topology