Impact of Bushfire Dynamics on the Performance of MANETs

Abstract

In emergency situations like recent Australian bushfires, it is crucial for civilians and firefighters to receive critical information such as escape routes and safe sheltering points with guarantees on information quality attributes. Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) can provide communications in bushfire when fixed infrastructure is destroyed and not available. Current MANET solutions, however, are mostly tested under static bushfire scenario. In this work, we investigate the impact of a realistic dynamic bushfire in a dry eucalypt forest with a shrubby understory, on the performance of data delivery solutions in a MANET. Simulation results show a significant degradation in the performance of state-of-the-art MANET quality of information solution. Other than frequent source handovers and reduced user usability, packet arrival latency increases by more than double in the 1st quartile with a median drop of 74.5 % in the overall packet delivery ratio. It is therefore crucial for MANET solutions to be thoroughly evaluated under realistic dynamic bushfire scenarios.