Nanonetwork-based search and rescue operations in debris areas

Abstract

Earthquake is one of the most destructive natural disasters. It is vital to carry out search and rescue (SAR) operations in the debris area after such a major disaster. Although there are various technologies to rescue living things in the debris area, reaching narrow gaps in the rubble is a very difficult process. Nanonetworks operating on terahertz (THz) communication channels are composed of thousands of nanodevices that can pass through even ultrasmall gaps. In this paper, we propose an application that utilizes nanodevices for SAR operations in debris areas. To the best of our knowledge, our paper is the first study to provide a detailed and specialized analysis of this application. We work on channel models by extensively analyzing transmittance, propagation loss, absorption loss, path loss, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and capacity. Besides, we investigate a physical layer (PHY) model by considering the effects of using directional or omnidirectional antennas to ensure optimal throughput and energy consumption. Moreover, we present an exhaustive performance analysis of the modulation technique with respect to various nanodevice counts and densities. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.