CLASSIFICATION OF RELIABILITY STRATEGIES FOR FLYING NETWORKS TO ENSURE COMMUNICATIONS IN DISRUPTION CONDITIONS

Abstract

The use of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) is becoming more and more intensive in various spheres of human activity. This can be traced even by the dynamics of the number of publications on the use of UAVs, which is steadily increasing every year. The development of unmanned technologies creates new opportunities for various applications. By reducing risks for users, these technologies become even more relevant and almost indispensable during natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, man-made accidents, as well as war, making many processes safer and more efficient.

Flying networks based on UAVs can provide communication in such conditions, which is critical for coordinating rescue operations and ensuring people's safety. In war zones and major disasters, traditional communication networks can be destroyed or damaged. Flying networks can quickly re-establish communication between military units, which is crucial for operational management and strategic actions. In remote or hard-to-reach areas where there is no developed infrastructure, flying networks can become the only way to provide communications. This is especially important for maintaining communications at critical facilities that are part of mining infrastructure or remote scientific stations. The use of flying networks can be a more cost-effective and fast way of deploying communication infrastructure compared to traditional ones and does not require the construction of towers and the laying of cables.

The article provides a review of publications in the following areas: general analysis of the UAV industry; analysis of communication technologies implemented using UAVs (flying networks) for various applications; analysis of deployment options for flying networks to ensure communications in emergency situations; and analysis of issues and methods for ensuring the reliability (fault tolerance and readiness) of flying networks.

A classification of deployment strategies for flying networks has been developed to ensure optical wireless communications (LiFi) between sources and receivers of information.

A classifier for such strategies has been created. Classification features have been identified, and a set of network deployment strategies has been formed. An example of working with the classifier is provided to build strategies based on given criteria.

A coding scheme for the strategies is proposed.