Implementation and Evaluation of Dual-Purpose Normal and Disaster Situations System Based on Delay and Disruption Tolerant Bluetooth MANETs

Abstract

Dual-purpose systems for both normal and disaster situations are necessary for providing continuous services from normal situations to disaster situations. We have been developing the dual-purposed systems based on the assurance network design principle. The assurance network design principle makes the dual-purpose systems work stably in both normal and disaster situations. This paper proposes a connectivity-dependent data propagation scheme, in which each terminal transfers data adaptively by wireless multi-hop data transfer or store-and-forward data transfer depending on whether the terminal has connections to its neighboring terminals. To verify the resilience against disconnection among neighboring terminals, we show field experimental results on data propagation time. Also we propose the dual-purpose system, in which there are two types of graphical user interface (GUI) for both situations. Whenever each terminal receives a special packet in disaster situations, the GUI automatically switches from one type for normal situations to another type for disaster situations. We have unified these two types of GUI so that users can understand how to use them even when GUI is automatically switched. To validate feasibility of the dual-purpose normal and disaster situations system, we show experimental results on dissemination of assessment information and automatical switching of GUIs.