Emergency vehicular networks

Natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes require prompt intervention by first responders to contain the loss of lives. Man-made disasters, such as acts of war, terrorist attacks, and civic riots, have similar effects and require similar response. The damage of these disasters is most felt in densely populated areas, such as urban and suburban sectors. These are the areas where the intervention is most critical. One of the essential instruments for successful Emergency Recovery is an efficient communications network to support stranded citizens and coordinate the rescue teams. In most disasters, nature or human-caused, the infrastructure (e.g., 3G, Wi-Fi, LTE, etc.) is obliterated, and thus communications must rely strictly on vehicles. In this chapter, we discuss the role of the vehicular network in support of emergencies. We identify two roles: support of emergency vehicles, and; establishment of a “general purpose” V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle) emergency network that can survive any nature or man-made attack. For the emergency vehicular network, we address several emergency-related applications and services including: access to remote resources, interconnection of multiple rescue teams, urban surveillance, and vehicle evacuation. We review the new role of protection (security and privacy) in the emergency mode. Finally, we discuss the importance of “exercising” the V2V emergency networking capability during normal network operations.