| Abstract | Mobile devices have shown to be very useful during
and post disaster. If the communication infrastructure breaks
down, however, they become almost useless as most services
rely on Internet connectivity. Building post-disaster networks
based purely on smartphones remains a challenging task, and,
as of today, no practical solutions exist. The rapidly growing
Internet of Things (IoT) offers the possibility to improve this
situation. With an increase in smart spaces such as smart
homes and smart offices, we move towards digital cities that
are deeply penetrated by IoT technology. Many IoT devices
are battery powered and can aid in mediating an emergency
network. In scenarios where the electrical grid is still operational,
yet communication infrastructure failed, non-battery powered
IoT devices can similarly help to relief congestion or build a
backup network in case of cyber attacks. With the recent release
of the Bluetooth Mesh standard, a common interface between
mobile devices and the IoT has become available. The key idea
behind this standard is to allow existing and new devices to build
large-scale multi-hop sensor networks. By enabling hundreds
of devices to communicate with each other, Bluetooth Mesh
(BT MESH) becomes a practical technical solution for enabling
communication post disaster. In this paper, we propose a novel
emergency network concept that utilizes the parts of digital cities
that remains operational in case of disaster, thus mediating large-
scale post-disaster device-to-device communication. Since the
Bluetooth Mesh standard is backwards compatible to Bluetooth
4.0, most of today’s mobile devices can join such a network.
No special hardware or software modifications are necessary,
especially no jail-breaking of the smartphones. |
|---|
