WiFi-based ad-hoc Network for Disaster Management
Joel Abraham · International Journal of Computing Communications and Networking · 2020
Countries around the world face hundreds of natural calamities every year.In our country, the most recent being the floods that affected the state of Kerala and Uttarakhand.Most of the people living near water sources were stranded at homes.Despite the deployment of rescue teams to find them, the operations took longer than expected, resulting in loss of life.In any case, the effectiveness of a search and rescue is evaluated by the quick response.As disasters disrupt communication mediums, valuable information regarding the location of the affected persons cannot be passed on to rescuers effectively.This results in delayed response and time is crucial when it comes to saving lives.By creating a system that can be used by rescuers and affected persons alike, the delays caused by poor communication can be overcome.An ad-hoc network can be set up onto which this system can be implemented.These network credentials are made aware to people beforehand.At the time of the disaster, this WiFi network can be accessed by people to give information about their location and other parameters like current status, headcount, etc to an android application.Wi-Fi hotspots can be set up on individual phones so that nearby devices can also connect to the network.The database is designed to store information about people.This information can be used by the search and rescue team to reach affected people along with necessary supplies.