AI-Powered Drone Network for Disaster Response: Enhancing Damage Detection and Communication Beyond 5G

The paper presents a disaster response and management approach using AI-powered drones beyond 5G communication capabilities. The system aims to improve the speed and accuracy of infrastructure damage detection during disasters such as earthquakes, floods, etc. Each drone is deployed with onboard AI models that analyze captured images in real-time and assess the extent of damage to mark affected areas with bounding polygons. The MobileNet model implemented shows an accuracy of 94.03%. Moreover, the drones act as mobile 5G cell towers, maintaining seamless network connectivity to facilitate emergency communication. The intelligent decision-making process of drones is designed to ensure minimal resource usage and maximal area coverage during disaster detection and recovery. The proposed approach prevents redundant deployment and ensures that only the required number of drones are dispatched, optimizing coverage while maintaining efficient use of resources.