Architecture of Emergency Communication Systems in Disasters through UAVs in 5G and Beyond

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are valued in 5G and 6G networks due to their communication capabilities, low cost, and flexible deployment. Recently, UAV-aided emergency networks in disasters have been designed where one single large UAV is used. Compared with a single large UAV, Flying Ad Hoc Networks (FANETs) with small UAVs have many benefits. Therefore, instead of a single large UAV, a FANET is proposed in this paper. To take full advantage of their services, UAVs must be able to communicate efficiently with each other and with existing networking infrastructures. However, high node mobility is one of the main characteristics of FANETs, which can result in rapid topology changes with frequent link breakage and unstable communications that cause collision and packet loss. As an alternative, networks can be broken up into smaller groups or clusters to control their topology efficiently and reduce channel contention. In this study, a novel cluster-based mechanism is proposed for FANETs. The process of cluster management is described. The IEEE 802.11 backoff method is specifically intended for direct communications and is not appropriate for cluster-based communications. Therefore, a new backoff mechanism is proposed based on cluster size to optimize performance. An analytical study using the Markov chain model is presented to explore the performance of the proposed mechanism. The study takes into account Nakagami-m fading channels. Performance-influencing parameters are taken into consideration and the relationships among these parameters as well as performance metrics such as throughput, packet dropping rate, outage probability, and delay are obtained. Furthermore, simulation results are provided which verify the analytical studies. A quantitative comparison with current cluster-based methods is also presented. The simulation results show that the suggested technique enhances system performance and complies with the safety message delay constraint of 100 ms.