  Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have enormous potential in the public and
civil domains. These are particularly useful in applications where human lives
would otherwise be endangered. Multi-UAV systems can collaboratively complete
missions more efficiently and economically as compared to single UAV systems.
However, there are many issues to be resolved before effective use of UAVs can
be made to provide stable and reliable context-specific networks. Much of the
work carried out in the areas of Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs), and Vehicular
Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) does not address the unique characteristics of the UAV
networks. UAV networks may vary from slow dynamic to dynamic; have intermittent
links and fluid topology. While it is believed that ad hoc mesh network would
be most suitable for UAV networks yet the architecture of multi-UAV networks
has been an understudied area. Software Defined Networking (SDN) could
facilitate flexible deployment and management of new services and help reduce
cost, increase security and availability in networks. Routing demands of UAV
networks go beyond the needs of MANETS and VANETS. Protocols are required that
would adapt to high mobility, dynamic topology, intermittent links, power
constraints and changing link quality. UAVs may fail and the network may get
partitioned making delay and disruption tolerance an important design
consideration. Limited life of the node and dynamicity of the network leads to
the requirement of seamless handovers where researchers are looking at the work
done in the areas of MANETs and VANETs, but the jury is still out. As energy
supply on UAVs is limited, protocols in various layers should contribute
towards greening of the network. This article surveys the work done towards all
of these outstanding issues, relating to this new class of networks, so as to
spur further research in these areas.
