The deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles at optimized locations to provide communication in natural disasters

Abstract

Our economy and society depend on the continued operation of the internet and other networks. During a natural disaster, the communication infrastructure is affected and as a consequence interrupted. In such scenario, there is a vital need to maintain communication between first responders and victims. Recently, the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has been proposed to deliver broadband connectivity since they are deployed quickly as aerial base stations to the affected area. However, figuring out the optimized locations of the UAVs is a difficult task due to a large number of combinations. To solve this, we apply a genetic algorithm with steady-state population model and binary representation with the aim of improving the network coverage.