Connectivity and collision constrained opportunistic routing for emergency communication using UAV

Emergency communication is essential for search and rescue operations in the aftermath of natural disasters. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-assisted networking is emerging as a promising method for establishing emergency communication. UAVs can intelligently self-adjust their positions, communicate while moving at high speeds, and effectively capture and relay disaster site information to a Terrestrial Base Station (TBS). However, data forwarding from the UAVs to TBS is challenging because of the former’s dynamic network topology, high mobility and resource constraints. Designing efficient routing protocols is crucial in the context of these challenges. To the best of our knowledge, none of the previous works have integratively addressed the post-disaster routing concerns like coverage requirements, inter-UAV collision avoidance and reliable multi-hop routing in the absence of trajectory planning. This paper proposes a novel Multi-hop Opportunistic 3D Routing (MO3DR) algorithm for post-disaster data dissemination. The MO3DR algorithm employs coverage and inter-UAV collision constraints for selecting the next forwarding node to maximize the expected progress of data towards the TBS. Simulations validate the numerical results from closed-form analytical models. Results reveal that operating UAVs within the threshold inter-UAV distance meets the coverage and collision constraints while maximizing the expected progress of data towards the TBS.