Bluetooth-based Method for Spreading Urgent Messages in Emergency Situations

This paper describes a proposed Bluetooth-based ‘epidemic’ method, named MEPI (Messaging EPIdemic), for spreading urgent messages in cases of emergency, e.g., caused by natural disasters or industrial accidents. Messages are initially broadcast by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), flying over the affected areas, and distributed further by the assistance of multiple cooperating electronic devices of users currently located there. Thе method is particularly relevant in scenarios where conventional telecommunication infrastructures are unavailable or non-functional, e.g., due to an occurred disaster/accident. The utilization of the MEPI method is demonstrated on an example of a disaster/accident with an epicenter, spreading radially in all directions with the same speed of onset. A MEPI admin app, specially developed for message spreading, is briefly presented as well.