Localization for emergency sensor networks

Communication systems are essential in the coordination and planning of emergency and disaster relief operations (fire, earthquake, terrorism). Unfortunately, existing systems often provide minimal communication infrastructure for suplying information about the nature or the extend of an emergency or disaster area. Wireless Sensor Networks are a promising method for providing real-time feedback from disaster sites to rescue personnel. In this paper we evaluate current localization methods for WSN's in scenarios with characteristics similar to those common in a disaster area. We find that common assumptions in current location schemes don't apply in a disaster scenario and the expected behavior of the localization methods changes. Even thought the expected behavior changes we show that current proposed localization methods maybe fit for rescue and disaster relief applications. Finally we mention deficiencies and improvements for this localization methods.