MUMBAI, India, Aug. 31 -- Intellectual Property India has published a patent application (202641101762 A) filed by Madhankumar C; Mrs. K. Helini - Vignan'S Institute Of Management And Technology For Women; Mrs. A. Eenaja - Vignan'S Institute Of Management And; Mrs. G. Sandhya Rani - Vignan'S Institute Of Management And Technology For Women; Dr. D. Shanthi - Vignan'S Institute Of Management And Technology For Women; and Mr. M. Srinivasarao - Vignan'S Institute Of Management on August 23, 2026, for Cross-Layer Reliable Multicast Protocol For Drone Swarm Telemetry Over Heterogeneous Wireless.
Inventors include Mrs. K. Helini - Vignan'S Institute Of Management And; Mrs. A. Eenaja - Vignan'S Institute Of Management And; Mrs. G. Sandhya Rani - Vignan'S Institute Of Management; Dr. D. Shanthi - Vignan'S Institute Of Management And Technology For Women; and Mr. M. Srinivasarao - Vignan'S Institute Of Management And Technology For Women.
The application for the patent was published on August 28, 2026, under issue no. 35/2026.
Abstract: Cross-Layer Reliable Multicast Protocol for Drone Swarm Telemetry Over Heterogeneous Wireless ABSTRACT The present invention relates to a Cross-Layer Reliable Multicast Protocol for Drone Swarm Telemetry Over Heterogeneous Wireless Networks, designed to provide reliable, low-latency, and efficient dissemination of telemetry and control information among multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operating as a coordinated drone swarm. Conventional wireless communication mechanisms used in drone networks may experience packet loss, link instability, interference, mobility-induced topology changes, congestion, and heterogeneous network conditions, thereby affecting reliable delivery of mission-critical telemetry information. The proposed invention provides a cross-layer communication framework comprising a drone telemetry acquisition module, heterogeneous wireless interface module, link-quality monitoring module, topology and mobility estimation module, cross-layer decision engine, adaptive multicast routing module, reliability management module, congestion control module, packet prioritization module, and feedback mechanism. The heterogeneous wireless interface module is configured to support multiple communication technologies including Wi-Fi, 5G/4G, mesh communication, and other suitable wireless interfaces. The framework dynamically selects and combines available communication links according to link quality, bandwidth, latency, interference, mobility, residual network resources, and application requirements. The telemetry acquisition module collects information including drone position, velocity, altitude, battery status, flight status, sensor measurements, link statistics, and mission-related information. The link-quality monitoring module continuously evaluates parameters such as received signal strength, packet delivery ratio, latency, bandwidth availability, packet loss, and interference. The topology estimation module determines relative drone positions, connectivity relationships, link stability, and predicted topology changes. The cross-layer decision engine integrates information from multiple protocol layers, including application, transport, network, and data-link layers, to dynamically determine suitable multicast transmission strategies. Based on the evaluated network conditions, the adaptive multicast routing module selects forwarding nodes, multicast paths, transmission interfaces, and redundancy levels for distributing telemetry information across the drone swarm. The reliability management module provides adaptive packet replication, selective retransmission, forward error correction, acknowledgment aggregation, or alternative forwarding mechanisms according to the importance of the telemetry information and current network conditions. Critical telemetry and control information may be assigned higher priority and increased reliability, while non-critical information may be transmitted using reduced redundancy to conserve bandwidth. The proposed protocol further incorporates a congestion management mechanism that monitors traffic load and dynamically modifies transmission rates, packet scheduling, forwarding behavior, and multicast group management. A feedback mechanism continuously evaluates multicast delivery performance and updates routing and transmission parameters according to changing network topology and wireless conditions. The invention thereby provides reliable multicast telemetry delivery, adaptive cross-layer optimization, heterogeneous wireless utilization, mobility-aware routing, congestion management, and energy-conscious communication for drone swarm networks. The proposed protocol can be applied to surveillance, disaster response, environmental monitoring, infrastructure inspection, emergency communication, search and rescue, agricultural monitoring, and other coordinated UAV applications requiring reliable real-time information exchange. The invention improves the reliability, adaptability, scalability, and communication efficiency of drone swarm telemetry transmission under dynamic and heterogeneous wireless network conditions.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
