Cross Network Topology Design for Contingency Cellular Network

Abstract

When stricken by a large-scale disaster, the efficiency of disaster response operation is very critical to lifesaving. However, communication systems, such as cellular networks, usually crashed due to various causes making coordination among disorganized disaster responders extremely difficult. Unfortunately, rapid deployment of many existing emergency communication systems relies on a good transportation system, which is usually not available in a catastrophic natural disaster. We proposed a Contingency Cellular Network (CCN) for emergency communication by connecting disconnected base stations together with wireless links and constructing a multi-hop cellular network. CCN can support existing mobile phone users with reduced capability. Such a system can support a large number of disaster responders in the early hours of a catastrophic natural disaster, thus save many lives. This paper addresses the design of forwarding topology using multiple operator's base stations aiming to maximize the efficiency of disaster response. We take the degree of emergency and population of each stricken area as the priority measure as well as the available resources as the constraint to determine the topology. The CCN Cross Network Topology Design problem is modeled as a K-Maximum Spanning Tree Problem. The problem is proven NP Hard. We also designed a few efficient heuristic algorithms to solve the problem when it is needed in urgent.