Wide-area disaster surveillance using electric vehicles and helicopters

In this study, we assume that a number of electric vehicles (EVs), each with its respective partner unmanned electric helicopter (EH), are cooperatively engaged in wide-area disaster surveillance and data delivery to the center node. We present a simple model for area zoning assuming a wide square area and one-dimensional EV placement. Specifically, each EV-EH pair is in charge of a non-overlapping sub-area surveillance, and the surveillance data are temporarily stored in the EV. The partner EH is used to transfer the surveillance data, which are obtained in the sub-area in addition to those transferred from the immediate downstream EV, to the upstream EV via carry and forward. We present two principles for time-efficient surveillance and data transfer, that is, task-balanced zoning and synchronous data handover. Numerical examples are provided to show that the task-balanced zoning yields a slightly lower cycle time than does the uniform zoning, and synchronous handover results in significantly shorter data delivery times than does asynchronous handover.