Integrating self-powered disaster recovery networks with environmental monitoring for enhanced disaster preparedness and response

Abstract

This paper investigates a comprehensive approach to enhance Environmental Monitoring services within a self-powered Disaster Recovery Network (DRN) infrastructure. The study introduces a variety of solutions aimed at overcoming logistical challenges associated with establishing an environmentally conscious DRN infrastructure. Moreover, the research explores the intrinsic factors governing the system’s behavior, defines essential evaluation metrics, and delineates performance measurements. The Wireless Solar Router (WSR) is specifically introduced using the Ubicom IP 2022 platform to realize the Ad hoc wirelessly networked nodes of the DRN infrastructure. To advance the field further, the paper proposes an experimental platform for comprehensive evaluation, assessing network performance, practicality, power efficiency, and resilience to various scenarios. A comprehensive design steps are illustrated and the required values of the system elements, i.e., the number of solar cell panels, the capacity of the battery cells, etc. are adjusted to fulfill the design purposes. In order to reduce the power utilization of the recommended WSR and to lengthen the duration of their batteries, a new distributed power management scheme called Duty Cycle Estimation-Event Driven Duty Cycling (DCE-EDDC) was suggested and installed locally in the WSRs in order to decrease their power consumption and to extend the lifetime of their batteries. The suggested method is compared with other duty cycling methods and the proposed DRN system is also compared with other real-world implementations to show its usefulness in building a green DRN infrastructure.