A Scalable and Secure Mesh Communication Framework for UAV Swarm Coordination in Disaster Response

Effective coordination of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) swarms in disaster response requires robust, scalable, and secure communication to enable real-time collaboration in dynamic, infrastructure-scarce environments. Existing MAVLink based UAV networks suffer from scalability limitations due to excessive broadcast traffic and security vulnerabilities from unencrypted transmissions, impeding large-scale disaster operations. This paper proposes a novel hybrid mesh communication framework that integrates BATMAN-adv over IEEE 802.11s with an optimized IP-based MAVLink routing protocol. We introduce a disasterspecific routing metric for BATMAN-adv that prioritizes link stability under rapid topology changes, reducing latency by 25% and improving the packet delivery ratio by 15% compared to OLSR-based networks. Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) is seamlessly integrated to encrypt MAVLink messages, mitigating eavesdropping and unauthorized control with minimal computational overhead. Evaluated in Gazebo Harmonic with ROS2 Jazzy using a 12-drone swarm, the framework demonstrates resilience against node failures and simulated cyberattacks, validated through statistical analysis of latency, throughput, and security metrics. These results establish the scalability and robustness of the framework for disaster scenarios, such as victim search and mapping. By addressing critical communication bottlenecks, this work advances autonomous UAV swarm deployment, offering a practical solution for disaster response. Future extensions will integrate the framework with victim recognition and formation control for end-to-end swarm coordination.