## 4 Experiments  
The experimental validation of the proposed SAR-IoCA architecture was performed in a realistic exercise on disaster response that took place in Malaga (Spain) on 18 June 2021. The cooperative mission was performed in one of the scenarios of a full-scale exercise organized as part of an annual Workshop managed by the Unit of Security, Emergencies, and Disasters at Universidad de Malaga (UMA), which is attended by different governmental and non-governmental emergency response organizations. Over 150 people from these services participated in the edition of 2021. These annual exercises provide an effective framework for the testing and assessing new technologies with the cooperation of actual responders [41; 64].  
The simulated mission was conducted with realistic conditions following strict timing constraints and safety protocols coordinated by the exercise director and the organization staff. Other personnel participating in the exercise included the first response teams, victim  
Figure 6: Examples of camera images visualization in FCC and BCC. (**a**) SAR-FIS: video supported by video web server from onboard IP camera on Cuadriga. (**b**) ROS-FIS: video from 5G smartphones on UAV and Rover J8 monitored in RViz.  
stand-ins (played by drama students), authorized media, visitors, and officials. The exercise site is a dedicated 90,000 m\({}^{2}\) outdoor experimental area within the UMA campus, known as the area of experimentation in new technologies for emergencies (LAENTIEC). This natural terrain area was set up as a simulated disaster site with rubble mounds, crushed vehicles, and a partially collapsed storm drain tunnel and a natural ravine. The coordinators of the general exercise organized different scenarios with associated missions, assigning them to different teams.  
A layout of the site with the main areas involved in the validation experiment are depicted in Figure 7, where the different zones are denoted by numbers:  
1. Forward command posts area, where the rescue teams establish their tents, vehicles, and personnel as coordination centers.
2. The FCC, where the FIS is installed, from which the information is monitored, analyzed, and processed in both elements of the information system: ROS-FIS and SAR-FIS. The FCC is located inside the red tent, previously shown in Figure 2.
3. Area covered by the deployment of the LoRa sensor-nodes and the BLE transceivers (H2 WTN).
4. The BCC, which is situated in a lab building out of the rescue area, in order to derivate some parts of the computation and for monitoring any issue. This control center can share the tasks of the FCC, thus reducing the workload.
5. Helicopter landing zone (HLZ), for aerial evacuation of victims.
6. SAR agents and emergency vehicles (e.g., fire trucks and ambulances). Figure 7 shows the movement of these elements with blue arrows.
7. Ravine and tunnel with rubble and crushed cars.  
The following is a description of the rescue mission with the sequence of operations agreed between the participating organizations for effective agent cooperation and, finally, a description of the technological challenges identified in relation to the X-IoCA architecture for conducting the rescue mission using cooperative agents.  
Figure 7: Aerial view (Google 2020) of the area of experimentation in new technologies for emergencies (LAENTIEC) where areas indicate some relevant locations, such as MEC centers (2 and 4) or crushed vehicles (7).