Abstract
Communication technologies are very important for disaster management. Satellite network’s advantage of large coverage and Mobile Ad hoc Network’s (MANET) advantage of high flexibility could be ideal for disaster management. In this paper, the authors propose a novel scheme for providing reliable wireless communications in disaster sites with a hybrid network of terrestrial MANET and satellite network. In comparison with normal wireless routing approaches, i.e. AODV and AOMDV, the proposed scheme could achieve higher packet delivery ratio, higher throughput and lower delay; meanwhile it could also balance traffic loads at gateways to maximum satellite links’ utilization.