A self-organizing aerial ad hoc network mobility model for disaster scenarios

Mobile Ad Hoc Networks have been envisioned as an appealing networking approach to be applied in disaster scenarios. The main reason is that they can be rapidly deployed over terrestrial nodes i.e. the victims and rescue team members, in order to provide them support when traditional communication infrastructure is seriously damaged or malfunctioning. Aerial Ad Hoc Networks are ad hoc networks made of aerial vehicles and can be used for this purpose as well, as they can be rapidly deployed and provide communication services even before the rescue teams arrive to the victims' location. This paper proposes a mobility model for the self-deployment of an Aerial Ad Hoc Network in a disaster scenario in order to create a flying and flexible communication infrastructure that victims can use. The mobility model proposed is based mainly in the Jaccard dissimilarity metric to control de deployment of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles composing the network. The proposed model is tested using a software tool that has been developed for this specific purpose and which evaluates the communication service provided by the Aerial Ad Hoc Network in disaster scenarios.