Rapidly-Deployable Broadband Wireless Communication Networks for Disaster and Emergency Response

Overall Objective: How to implement a rapidly deployable high capacity broadband wireless radio system in harsh environment that seamlessly links on-site communications systems and networks to each other and to the outside world.

1. Why dont we use mobile phones for voice communication during disaster?

Cell phone provides voice and video communication service based on 3G/4G public network with fast speed. It seems that cell phone is a better choice for keeping communication.

However in most of the cases when disaster or emergency attack us, mobile phone networks fail and even worse that we can do nothing about it. Nature disaster destroys the public network equipment, the disaster occurred in a remote area where the public network is poor or there is totally no signal covering. Both the reasons make the public network and cell phone is not a reliable wireless communication tool for disaster or emergency rescue.

2. What kind of network does the first-responders need?

 Unlike wireless communications in an organization or general communications, the wireless networks used in disaster relief need to meet the following key features:

2.1. Rapid Deployment

In an emergency first responders deploy in minutes, emergency communication systems cannot take hours to deploy. The first responders need a simple yet immediate advanced communication system that connects with all the human resources that are involved or will be involved. In situations when minutes can mean the difference between life and death, taking hours to deploy a communications lifeline is not an option. So network communication system need to be rapid deployment within few minutes.

2.2. Wireless Communication Techniques

At present many countries still use narrowband techniques, but Long Term Evolution (LTE) is expected to be the primary technique for near future implementations.

2.3. Network Reliability

Disaster is ever-changing and no body knows how long time the rescue will last. So the emergency communications systems must be extremely reliable, able to provide reliable voice and data communications services as long as they are required. The network must be resilient, with an assurance of availability and consistency.

2.4. Dispatch and control

In a typical emergency communication system, the messages are routed hierarchically through a chain of dispatch. The communication infrastructure being implemented needs to support the hierarchical dispatch and control structure.

2.5. Network Flexibility

In fact, disaster rescue is always in a state of change, with frequent expansions and changes to the new attacked  site, which requires the network system to be flexible for adding devices to cover bigger area.

2.6. Provide Integrated Services

Converging voice, data and video information and integrating all communications from the multimedia dispatch center would enable fast and effective real-time decision making.

2.7. Security and Reliability

Reliability of an emergency communication network is important as it would be required to operate in hostile environments.The messages exchanged could be classified information, hence security is crucial in these networks.

2.8. Scalability and Reconfiguration

The scale and nature of each disaster would be different and emergency networks deployed should be easily reconfigurable and scalable to accommodate different requirements.

2.9. Low Latency

The communication and response in an emergency network need to be real-time, so having low latency is crucial.

3. Solution

Long Term Evolution (LTE) securely provides sufficient coverage to meet the vast majorities of deployment scenarios. It offers high rate at very short delay and these connections can be used by almost any application that uses IP communication.

The IFLY visualized 4G LTE emergency Wireless Communication solution is a unique and cost effective mobile solution for emergency response, allowing rapidly and easy setup at a deployed site. Designed to meet the requirements of law-enforcing department, corporations, the public safety agencies and the military. IFLY base station Patron-P10 and IFLY trunking handset Cuckoo-HT2 are lightweight, portable and robust, providing a complete suite of video, voice and data collection communication capabilities for emergency relief workers with a fully integrated design delivering a coverage range well beyond typical wireless access points.