MANET_Localization

In the aftermath of a disaster, one of the most time-sensitive and critical tasks for first responders is to locate people for effective and successful rescue operations. However, the destructive impacts of an extreme event on telecommunication infrastructure systems may make this already complex process even more complicated. To address this challenge, the present study proposes a novel emergency communication system to discover and locate citizens’ mobile devices using a mobile ad hoc network (MANET) without any dependencies on telecommunication infrastructures. The proposed solution will help first responders locate and map mobile devices in the affected area in a matter of seconds to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of post-disaster rescue operations. The proposed framework in this study offers four unique capabilities that differentiate it from previously existing solutions. First, it only relies on basic cellphone signals that can be received and transmitted by any type of mobile device, including non-smartphones. Second, the proposed framework offers a solution to accurately calculate the discovered mobile devices using their received signal strength and without any dependency on the Global Positioning System (GPS). Third, the proposed framework does not impose any computational operations on the mobile devices in the network; therefore, their batteries would live longer. Fourth, the proposed framework does not require any pre-installed mobile app on citizens’ phones. The performance of the proposed MANET-based system was empirically evaluated using a simulated scenario analysis. The results indicated that the method could efficiently and accurately discover more than 93% of mobile devices and estimate their locations.