Tree-based disaster recovery multihop access network

Wireless access network is an appropriate approach providing Internet connection in disasters where communication infrastructures might completely be damaged. This paper clarifies essential requirements for a resilient disaster recovery multihop access network (DRAN). Based on those requirements, which could not be satisfied by existing access network technologies, a novel approach, thereby multihop access networks can be established quickly using commodity mobile devices (laptops, tablets, smart phones), has been proposed. Users can connect to the proposed wireless access network as easily as connecting to conventional access points (APs) and unconsciously contribute to the network extension. As a result, the network is extended incrementally providing more Internet access opportunities to far apart nodes. Experimental evaluations reveal the feasibility as well as the scalability of the proposed approach.