Mobility-Aware Orchestration for UAV-Enabled IoT Networks in Emergency Scenarios

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) integrated with Internet of Things (IoT) systems represent a powerful solution for reestablishing connectivity in emergency scenarios where terrestrial infrastructure is damaged or overloaded. However, ensuring service continuity under UAV mobility and resource constraints poses significant orchestration challenges. This paper presents a mobility-aware orchestration framework tailored for UAV-enabled IoT networks in such critical contexts. Leveraging Kubernetes for service orchestration and Prometheus for telemetry monitoring, we design and implement a modular architecture that dynamically reallocates containerized services across mobile UAV nodes in real time. Our framework is validated through physical testbed experiments on Raspberry Pi-equipped UAVs, where container migration is triggered by geographic constraints and monitored across varying pod workloads and link conditions. Results demonstrate robust adaptability, sub-second recovery under favorable link quality, and a scalable orchestration strategy for mission-critical operations. This work advances the practical deployment of orchestrated UAV swarms, bridging the gap between theoretical frameworks and real-world mobility-aware computing.