Concept for an Integrated 5G and LoRaWAN Communication System for Search and Rescue Applications in Rural Areas

In this paper a concept for a communication and tracking system for search and rescue operations especially of rescue dog associations in areas with poor mobile coverage is proposed. The concept includes tracking devices for all team members and dogs, a smartphone app for in-field communication as well as a web-based software for mission management. To ensure reliable communication even in difficult terrain, a combination of public 5G and private long range wide area network (LoRaWAN) is employed. With the later serving as fallback communication link, when no data transmission over 5G is possible. To ensure data transfer in the narrow LoRaWAN band, various techniques like message compression are considered.