Distance estimation in a ZigBee wireless mesh network for disaster situations

EasyChair Preprint 794, version 2

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) have gained im- portance through applications in the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0. Especially the mesh topology has been in- tegrated in wireless standards. These wireless mesh networks (WMN) offer a wide range of deployment possibilities. The usage in disaster situations without Global Position Satellite System (GPSS) support is investigated. While a WMN usually requires a thorough planning of positioning of the nodes this is not possible in case of a disaster. Starting from a destroyed infrastructure the challenge is to spread the wireless network nodes. Therefore the focus is on the optimal distribution of the nodes with regard to navigation and positioning rather than on the optimal coverage and range of the network. The WMN is piecemeal build up for basic navigation and sensor communication. In a 7.4-hectare park a wireless ZigBee mesh consisting of six nodes was deployed and basic navigation and communication was tested under urban conditions. All nodes are battery operated and can be used in a destroyed infrastructure. The combination of WMNs and Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) provides first promising results for position determination and estimation.

Keyphrases: Navigation, Wireless Sensor Network, ZigBee, disaster network, positioning

@booklet{EasyChair:794,
  author    = {Olaf Reich and Matthias Wagner and Jörg Schäfer},
  title     = {Distance estimation in a ZigBee wireless mesh network for disaster situations},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 794},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2019}}