Delay/Disruption-Tolerant Networks (DTNs) have been around for more than a decade and have especially been proposed to be used in scenarios where communication infrastructure is unavailable. In such scenarios, DTNs can offer a best-effort communication service by exploiting user mobility. Natural disasters are an important application scenario for DTNs when the cellular network is destroyed by natural forces. To assess the performance of such networks before deployment, we require appropriate knowledge of human mobility.
In this paper, we address this problem by designing, implementing, and evaluating a novel mobility model for large-scale natural disasters. Due to the lack of GPS traces, we reverse-engineer human mobility of past natural disasters (focusing on 2010 Haiti earthquake and 2013 Typhoon Haiyan) by leveraging knowledge of 126 experts from 71 Disaster Response Organizations (DROs). By means of simulation-based experiments, we compare and contrast our mobility model to other well-known models, and evaluate their impact on DTN performance. Finally, we make our source code available to the public.
Heterogeneous small cell networks with overlay femtocells and macrocell is a promising solution for future heterogeneous wireless cellular communications. However, great resilience is needed in heterogeneous small cells in case of accidents, attacks and natural disasters. In this article, we first describe the network architecture of disaster resilient heterogeneous small cell networks (DRHSCNs), where several self-organization inspired approaches are applied. Based on the proposed resilient heterogeneous small cell network architecture, self-configuring (power, physical cell ID and neighbor c…
Information-Centric Networking (ICN) introduces a paradigm shift from a host centric communication model for Future Internet architectures. It supports the retrieval of a particular content regardless of the physical location of the content. Emergency network in a disaster scenario or disruptive network presents a significant challenge to the ICN deployment. In this paper, we present a Content dIstribution and retrieval framework in disaster netwOrks for public pRotection (CIDOR) which exploits the design principle of the native CCN architecture in the native Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) ar…
This study explores how a swarm of aerial mobile vehicles can provide network connectivity and meet the stringent requirements of public protection and disaster relief operations. In this context, we design a physics-based controlled mobility strategy, which we name the extended Virtual Force Protocol (VFPe), allowing self-propelled nodes, and in particular here unmanned aerial vehicles, to fly autonomously and cooperatively. In this way, ground devices scattered on the operation site may establish communications through the wireless multi-hop communication routes formed by the network of aeri…
The number of disasters has increased over the past decade where these calamities significantly affect the functionality of communication networks. In the context of 6G, airborne and spaceborne networks offer hope in disaster recovery to serve the underserved and to be resilient in calamities. Therefore, this paper surveys the state-of-the-art literature on post-disaster wireless communication networks and provides insights for the future establishment of such networks. In particular, we first give an overview of the works investigating the general procedures and strategies for counteracting a…
University of South Florida（南佛罗里达大学）；New Jersey Institute of Technology（新泽西理工学院）；Texas A&M University（得克萨斯农工大学）
Mobile multi-robot teams deployed for monitoring or search-and-rescue missions in urban disaster areas can greatly improve the quality of vital data collected on-site. Analysis of such data can identify hazards and save lives. Unfortunately, such real deployments at scale are cost prohibitive and robot failures lead to data loss. Moreover, scaled-down deployments do not capture significant levels of interaction and communication complexity. To tackle this problem, we propose novel mobility and failure generation frameworks that allow realistic simulations of mobile robot networks for large sca…
A Unified Framework for Joint Mobility Prediction and Object Profiling of Drones in UAV Networks
School of Informatics, Computing and Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ（信息学、计算与网络系统学院，北亚利桑那大学，弗拉格斯塔，亚利桑那）；Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, NY（空军研究实验室，罗马，纽约）
Critical and public safety operations require real-time data transfer from the incident area(s) to the distant operations command center going through the evacuation and medical support areas. Any delay in communication may cause significant loss. In some cases, it is anticipated that the existing communication infrastructures can be damaged or out-of-service. It is thus required to deploy tactical ad-hoc networks to cover the operation zones. Routing data over the deployed network is a significant challenge with consideration to the operations conditions. In this paper we evaluate the perform…
Smartphone-based communication networks form a basis for services in emergency response scenarios, where communication infrastructure is impaired or overloaded. Still, their design and evaluation are largely based on simulations that rely on generic mobility models and weak assumptions regarding user behavior. For a realistic assessment, scenario-specific models are essential. To this end, we conducted a large-scale field test of a set of emergency services that relied solely on ad hoc communication. Over the course of one day, we gathered data from smartphones distributed to 125 participants …
In dense underwater sensor networks (UWSN), the major confronts are high error probability, incessant variation in topology of sensor nodes, and much energy consumption for data transmission. However, there are some remarkable applications of UWSN such as management of seabed and oil reservoirs, exploration of deep sea situation and prevention of aqueous disasters. In order to accomplish these applications, ignorance of the limitations of acoustic communications such as high delay and low bandwidth is not feasible. In this paper, we propose Adaptive mobility of Courier nodes in Threshold-optim…
Korea University（高丽大学）；Hallym University（翰林大学）；Ajou University（亚洲大学）；UC-Irvine（加州大学尔湾分校）
Autonomous surveillance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are deployed to observe the streets of the city for any suspicious activities. This paper utilizes surveillance UAVs for the purpose of detecting the presence of a fire in the streets. An extensive database is collected from UAV surveillance drones. With the aid of artificial intelligence (AI), fire stations can swiftly identify the presence of a fire emerging in the neighborhood. Spatio-temporal split learning is applied to this scenario to preserve privacy and globally train a fire classification model. Fires are hazardous natural disas…
Swarms of collaborating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that utilize ad-hoc networking technologies for coordinating their actions offer the potential to catalyze emerging research fields such as autonomous exploration of disaster areas, demanddriven network provisioning, and near field packet delivery in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSs). As these mobile robotic networks are characterized by high grades of relative mobility, existing routing protocols often fail to adopt their decision making to the implied network topology dynamics. For addressing these challenges, we present Predict…
During incidents and disasters it is fundamental to provide to first responders high performance and reliable communications, in order to improve their coordination capabilities and their awareness of the surrounding environment, and to allow them to promptly transmit and receive alerts on possible dangerous situations or emergencies. The accurate evaluation of the performance of different Public Safety Communication (PSC) networking and communications technologies is therefore of paramount importance, and the characterization of the scenario in which these technologies need to operate is fund…
Susceptibility of scale free Power Law (PL) networks to attacks has been traditionally studied in the context of what may be termed as {\em instantaneous attacks}, where a randomly selected set of nodes and edges are deleted while the network is kept {\em static}. In this paper, we shift the focus to the study of {\em progressive} and instantaneous attacks on {\em reactive} grown and random PL networks, which can respond to attacks and take remedial steps. In the process, we present several techniques that managed networks can adopt to minimize the damages during attacks, and also to efficient…
Emergency communication is extremely important to aid rescue and search operation in the aftermath of any disaster. In such scenario, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) networks may be used to complement the damaged cellular networks over large areas. However, in such UAV networks, routing is a challenge, owing to high UAV mobility, intermittent link quality between UAVs, dynamic three dimensional (3D) UAV topology and resource constraints. Though several UAV routing approaches have been proposed, none of them so far have addressed inter UAV coverage, collision and routing in an integrated manner. …
Maximizing network lifetime is a very challenging issue in routing protocol design for Mobile Ad-hoc NETworks (MANETs), since mobile nodes are powered by limited-capacity batteries. Furthermore, replacing or recharging batteries is often impossible in critical environments (e.g. battlefields, disaster areas, etc.). Energy consumption was considered for a long time equivalent to bandwidth consumption. However, recent works have shown that "energy" and "bandwidth" are substantially different metrics. Moreover, it was found that traditional routing policies such as "the shortest path" one can hav…
Recently, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based communications systems have attracted increasing research and commercial interest due to their cost effective deployment and ease of mobility.During natural disasters and emergencies, such networks are extremely useful to provide communication service. In such scenarios, UAVs position and trajectory must be optimal to maintain Quality of Service at the user end. This paper focuses on the deployment of an SDN-based UAV network providing communication service to the users. We consider the deployment of the system in stadiums and events. In this paper…
Multicast communication plays a crucial role in Mobile Adhoc Networks (MANETs). MANETs provide low cost, self configuring devices for multimedia data communication in military battlefield scenarios, disaster and public safety networks (PSN). Multicast communication improves the network performance in terms of bandwidth consumption, battery power and routing overhead as compared to unicast for same volume of data communication. In recent past, a number of multicast routing protocols (MRPs) have been proposed that tried to resolve issues and challenges in MRP. Multicast based group communication…
Blockchain-Enabled Routing for Zero-Trust Low-Altitude Intelligent Networks
College of Electronic and Information Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics（南京航空航天大学电子与信息学院）；College of Civil Aviation, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics（南京航空航天大学民航学院）；College of Artificial Intelligence, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics（南京航空航天大学人工智能学院）；College of Computing and Data Science, Nanyang Technological University（南洋理工大学计算机与数据科学学院）
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) networks can provide a resilient communication infrastructure to enhance terrestrial networks in case of traffic spikes or disaster scenarios. However, to be able to do so, they need to be based on high-bandwidth wireless technologies for both radio access and backhaul. With this respect, the millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum represents an enticing solution, since it provides large chunks of untapped spectrum that can enable ultra-high data-rates for aerial platforms. Aerial mmWave channels, however, experience characteristics that are significantly different from…
