Network for hypersonic UCAV swarms

Unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) that swarm with both autonomous decision-making and cooperative attacking have been regarded as revolutionary elements of modern warfare. In such a swarm, inter-group connectivity must be ensured in a network to maintain a collective consensus. In recent years, academia and industry have made many efforts to achieve common tactical data link systems and commercial drone networks. However, the existing results have difficulty meeting the needs of cooperative autonomous UCAV swarms with both hypersonic mobility and time sensitivity in severe confrontation scenarios. In this article, we conduct an in-depth investigation of the network used for the hypersonic UCAV swarms, which can be considered as a special form of mobile wireless network. Furthermore, faced with specific functional demands, we summarize the main challenges of designing this dedicated network. In addition, a comprehensive survey of potential solutions for the network design is presented. Lastly, we discuss the possible capabilities of the network given the current forefront of technology, as well as remaining challenges and open issues.