A survey on IEEE 802.11-based MANETs and DTNs for survivor communication in disaster scenarios

Ad hoc networks are spontaneous associations of wireless nodes that can operate without a previously built infrastructure. IEEE 802.11-based ad hoc networks, particularly, are the most common type of ad hoc networks since they can be deployed with ordinary devices such as laptops, tablets or smartphones. An application of ad hoc networks that is frequently mentioned in the literature is that of supporting communication between survivors or members of rescue teams in post-disaster scenarios. In these circumstances, ad hoc networks of mobile devices could be rapidly configured to communicate survivors and, in turn, could indirectly aid first responders to locate injured people. Among the different paradigms of ad hoc networks, numerous research efforts on post disaster communication have been focused on designing operating schemes for Mobile Ad Hoc NETworks (MANETs) and Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs). Furthermore, some authors have proposed approaches that successfully integrate both paradigms. This paper is a comprehensive literature review on communication solutions based on MANETs and DTNs that employ the IEEE 802.11 standard. Specifically, this review studies proposals designed for post-disaster scenarios in which there is no communication infrastructure available and network nodes move following the mobility pattern of pedestrians.