Future Communication Applications of UAVs for Increased Resilience of Command and Control Systems

Abstract

Command and Control processes require information and information exchange among various stakeholders to function properly in large-scale disasters. Nevertheless, they also inherently rely on the existence of functioning centralized communication infrastructure. Recent disasters showcased that this infrastructure is often severely inhibited and destroyed. On the other hand, research on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has shown that, e.g., they provide valuable alternatives to centralized communication infrastructure. This paper surveys the current state of the art in the practical application of command and control systems and the state of the art in research on UAV-based disaster applications. The identified lack of resilient means of communication, suitable for large-scale disasters, showcases the residual vulnerability of current command and control systems. By incorporating UAV-based communication systems into their processes the resilience of future command and control systems can be significantly increased, facilitating the necessary communication for disaster relief even when critical infrastructure fails.