Saving Lives After Natural Disasters With Fast Set-Up Phone Network

Tag : GSM WiFi Phone

When disaster strikes communications are often one of the firstinfrastructures to go down. But it is exactly when effectivecommunications are most desperately needed.
That problem may be a thing of the past thanks to achievements inthe EU-funded WISECOM project. WISECOM stands for WirelessInfrastructure over Satellite for Emergency Communications, and theteam behind the project has developed hardware and softwareallowing rescue workers to respond faster in the wake of acatastrophe.
“We developed lightweight, portable (or transportable)systems that allow rescue workers to set up voice and data networksin a very short time,” says Matteo Berioli, WISECOM’scoordinator.
The hardware can then link up to satellites to connect with theworld mobile and landline networks, says Berioli. “The systemworks anywhere there is satellite coverage, which is to say almosteverywhere in the world,” he adds.
Suitcase-sized cell
The system comes in two versions, which exploit two differentsatellite technologies: Inmarsat BGAN and DVB-RCS. BGAN, asatellite telephony standard, is smaller with lower performance,while DVB-RCS is a satellite broadcast standard and has much betterperformance, but is much larger.
The version working with BGAN is portable, the size of a smallsuitcase, and weighs just 10kg. It can be carried on a standardflight and delivered to the disaster zone, where non-technicalrescue workers can set it up in minutes. The DVB-RCS version islarger and heavier, weighing 60kg – about the size of twofairly large suitcases.
“Most of the volume in the DVB-RCS version is taken up by asatellite dish,” reveals Berioli.
Both systems come with an integrated GSM network and wificonnection. The BGAN version integrates a GSM pico-cell –tiny mobile phone cell using the internet to connect to the publicphone service – and offers coverage of over 300m radius forvoice and data, while the DVB-RCS version integrates a GSMmicro-cell which can cover several kilometres and it benefits froma larger bandwidth on the satellite connection.
The BGAN version is for immediate deployment during the initialemergency response, while the DVB-RCS one has longer deployingtimes, mainly because the 1.2m satellite antenna has to becarefully pointed. It is intended to help reconstruction efforts inthe days and weeks after a disaster.
In addition to the hardware, WISECOM developed useful software tomaximise the impact of the system. Location Based Services (LBS)allow emergency chiefs to track rescue workers as they seek outdisaster victims.
“It is fundamental with triage, [helping to determine] whichcases require the highest priority,” Berioli offers as anexample. “We only discovered the importance of this servicewhen we talked to end-users.”
Novel suggestions
Indeed, one novelty of the WISECOM project is that user suggestionsare a vital part of its work plan. “Engineers can createperfect technology, but often in the past it did not alwayscorrespond to real needs. We included end-users as part of theconsortium to make sure we were developing relevant systems.”
The LBS for triage is a case in point. Coding triage victims bycolour – black, red, yellow or green – is aninternationally recognised system. Black denotes a fatality; redsomeone who is near death, yellow is serious but notlife-threatening, while green signals an injury.
“If a victim is red, the rescue worker notes that and the LBSsoftware immediately, via WISECOM, tells the command centre whereto find the victim. Then command can alert other rescue workers andestablish voice communication [with] specific people to speed upthe rescue, ” Berioli explains.
All this – voice and data, GSM and WiFi – runs overWISECOM and the satellite. So the command centre could even be onthe other side of the world, thanks to the satellite link-up.
Extra functionality
LBS and this system of electronic triage is just one example of theextra functionality the team built into the system. Tetra isanother example.
“Tetra is the new communication standard, that serves theneeds of emergency response and public safety,” says Berioli.“There is currently a very big push for this standard inEurope,” he notes.
Tetra was not part of WISECOM’s original brief, but the teamdeveloped a solution within their system for this standard.
“We did not produce a full demonstrator, but we proved thefunctionality in the lab. It could be easily scaled up forreal-world use. We did not have to do it, but it was very relevantto our system, so we were keen to do the work,” adds Berioli.
Once all these elements were complete, the WISECOM team tested theentire system in a live demonstration. “I was impressed byhow many people were involved. There were over 150 people and 25vehicles: fire trucks, ambulances,… everything. We gave therescue workers some training, but they did everything on the day,setting up the WISECOM system and going through an emergency drill.It worked very well,” the coordinator confirms.
Commercial opportunities
Now the system is ready for commercialisation, and some of thepartners are actively pursing opportunities – though, inpart, that will depend on public services. “These types ofsystems are generally purchased by governments, or civil securityforces,” notes Berioli.