Deployable mobile communication infrastructure for emergency services with automated gateway selection (DISTRESS)

• Main Authors: Chua, Jordan Aaron T., Go-Soco, Joswin Paolo G., Morano, Iris Sharmaine T., Pequiras, Kielle Dominique I.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2016
• Subjects: Gateways (Computer networks); Bluetooth technology; Computer Sciences
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/7817
• Institution: De La Salle University

Mobile ad hoc netwoks (MANET) is an alternative to communicate with mobile nodes without the need for a central infrastructure. They are helpful in emergency situations, especially when cellular networks or Internet connections are broken down. They provide a network in which all nodes connected to it can communicate with each other even without the cellular or Internet connectivity. A mobile node such as smartphone can send text messages or call for help to any smartphone connected to the ad hoc network, which can be helpful in an emergency scenario. Current projects related to the use of MANET in emergencies address problems such as locating the disaster areas and connecting to the outside network (cellular or Internet) yet they require user intervention to establish a gateway in the network so that users can communicate outside the mobile ad hoc network, which is a tedious work for victims in disaster areas. This study aims to develop a mobile application, which allows smartphones to send messages out of MANET through gateway automatically selected from multiple candidates. Experiments showed that devices used are compatible with the mobile application. It also showed that the application can send messages using bluetooth in a mobile ad hoc network. When the destination is not within the MANET, the application can initiate a gateway election, wherein the election can elect a gateway that can forward the message to the destination via SMS.