UAV-based GSM network for public safety communications

Communications infrastructure can be damaged during natural disasters or terrorist attacks. For example, the 2011 Tsunami in Japan has severely damaged the cellular network infrastructure, which negatively affects search and rescue operations, emergency communications, and coordination among first responders. In this paper, we present an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based software defined radio (SDR) platform which can be rapidly deployed for use in emergency communication scenarios. In particular, the UAVs serve as flying GSM base stations and can provide cellular network coverage to users within their vicinity. The Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) are used as the SDR equipment, which run OpenBTS software for implementing the GSM technology. We present the design and implementation of the considered platform in this extended abstract.