Extending Post-Disaster Network Lifetime through Traffic Offloading to High-Altitude Platform Stations

Abstract

In the aftermath of large-scale natural disasters, power outages often render terrestrial base stations (BSs) inoperable, severely disrupting wireless communication for information dissemination and emergency response. This study investigates traffic offloading to a high-altitude platform stations (HAPS) to extend the network lifetime of post-disaster wireless networks. We develop a mathematical model accounting for the remaining energy of BSs, the traffic capacity of the HAPS, and user traffic demand, and conduct numerical simulations under various traffic conditions. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of HAPS-assisted traffic offloading and provide insights for disaster-resilient wireless network design.