۱- Introduction

۲- Disaster management phases

۳- Applications of WSN and multi-UAV Systems in Disaster Management

۴- Unexplored areas of application for WSN and multi-UAV systems in disaster management

۵- Open issues in disaster management

۶- Related works

۷- Conclusion

References

Abstract

This work identifies the role of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) in the context of natural disaster management. Main applications of systems involving WSN and UAV are classified according to the disaster management phase, and a review of relevant research activities is provided along with the research and development challenges that still remain unsolved. The main objectives of this work are to present technical results useful to improve the wellbeing of people, and push the state of the art one step forward in the definition of a complete disaster management system.

Introduction

The occurrence of natural disasters is a recurrent important problem in all the areas of the world (Table 1). The physical extent of the disaster makes it very hard and in some cases completely impossible for humans to timely react to and face the problem. Currently, efforts have been made in order to: recognize and forecast the possibility that a disaster will happen, react in an efficient manner to the disaster in course of happening, quickly assess the damage, fix and restore normal state. It is expected that, due to the climate change effects, natural disasters will occur with increasing frequency [68]. Consequently, significant research and development efforts are devoted to create systems to predict, prevent, and efficiently respond to natural disasters. Recent developments in wireless communication technologies, energy storage, computing power and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles1 (UAV) make a system composed of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) and multi-UAV the perfect candidate to play an important role in the disaster management. The response time of search and rescue personnel in a natural disaster is the key for saving the lives of those in the affected areas. The most efficient and fastest situational awareness is achieved through aerial assessment, because of the possibility to quickly get to the affected areas and easily take images and videos of the current situation. Hence, UAV systems have been receiving increasing attention from the disaster management research and development community over the last few years.