A WSN-driven service discovery technique for disaster recovery using mobile ad hoc networks

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) can be used quite effectively to manage resource allocation in operations such as search and rescue, military combat, and firefighting. In the event that an operations area, e.g. in case of disaster rescue operations, is large, the use of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) can be crucial in locating the spots of highest need of rescue resources. We can adapt the techniques of service discovery in MANET for use in the process of searching for and allocating the most proper rescue resource for encountered emergency situations and needs. This service discovery operation can therefore be triggered by findings of the WSNs that have been deployed in several locations within the operations area. We call the emergency response personnel “service providers”. Service providers are equipped with lightweight communication devices. In this study, we devise the protocol by which this entire operation is conducted. We also experiment with the proposed technique and present some results that show its performance under different operating conditions.