HEROES: Humanitarian Emergency Response based on UAV-enabled Integrated Sensing and Communication, Positioning, and Satisfaction Games

In the field of autonomous transportation systems, the integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in emergency response scenarios is important for enhancing the operational efficiency and the victims’ positioning. This article presents a novel Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) framework, named HEROES , which leverages the UAV and integrated sensing and communication technologies to address the challenges in post-disaster environments. Our approach focuses on a comprehensive post-disaster scenario involving multiple victims, first responders, UAVs, and an emergency control center. HEROES enables UAVs to function as anchor nodes and facilitate the precise positioning of the victims while simultaneously collecting critical data from the disaster area. We further introduce a reinforcement learning model based on the Optimistic Q-learning with Upper Confidence Bound algorithm, enabling the victims and first responders to autonomously select the most advantageous UAV connections based on their channel gain, shadowing probability, and positional characteristics. Furthermore, HEROES is based on a satisfaction game-theoretic model to enhance the sensing, communication, and positioning functionalities. Our analysis reveals the existence of various satisfaction equilibria, including minimum efficient satisfaction equilibrium, ensuring that the UAVs meet their quality of service constraints at minimal operational costs. Extensive experimental results validate the scalability and performance of HEROES, demonstrating significant improvements over existing state-of-the-art methods in delivering PNT services during humanitarian emergencies.