First Responders Got Wings: UAVs to the Rescue of Localization Operations in Beyond 5G Systems

TL;DR

This paper explores how UAVs equipped with AI, RIS, and OTFS can significantly improve localization in disaster scenarios, enhancing search-and-rescue operations in beyond 5G systems.

Contribution

It analyzes the integration of emerging technologies like AI, RIS, and OTFS with UAVs to address localization challenges in disaster response, highlighting future opportunities.

Findings

Identifies key challenges in UAV-based localization during disasters.

Proposes leveraging AI, RIS, and OTFS to enhance localization accuracy.

Discusses future research directions for effective victim localization.

Abstract

Natural and human-made disasters have dramatically increased during the last decades. Given the strong relationship between first responders localization time and the final number of deaths, the modernization of search-and-rescue operations has become imperative. In this context, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)-based solutions are the most promising candidates to take up on the localization challenge by leveraging on emerging technologies such as: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) and Orthogonal Time Frequency Space (OTFS) modulations. In this paper, we capitalize on such recently available techniques by shedding light on the main challenges and future opportunities to boost the localization performance of state-of-the-art techniques to give birth to unprecedentedly effective missing victims localization solutions.