Building
Emergency Lanes along the
New Information Highways and Skyways
The convergence of computers and communications, and the accelerating growth of global information networking is having significant impact on the organization of disaster mitigation, planning and response activities at all levels of society. During the past decade, the Telematics Research Laboratory (TRL) has been participating in these developments through applied disaster communication research in Canada and abroad in collaboration with civil emergency organizations at all levels of government and with the United Nations and international disaster relief organizations.
The main objective of this work is to improve the timely exchange of information among those affected by and/or concerned with disasters and their consequences through the application of cost-effective, reliable and accessible communications and information (telematics) infrastructure. A key concern is to ensure that all concerned stakeholders can participate and remain in important decision-making and knowledge building processes regardless of physical location before, during and after disasters strike.
The research focuses on testing contemporary and emerging telematics technologies (including new media) in order to evaluate and improve their use in disaster management activities. This work incorporates advanced telecommunications (especially space-based and terrestrial wireless technologies), development of applications over networks and facilitating technology transfer to the disaster management community through partnerships and collaborative networking initiatives.
Wireless applications and associated areas of collaboration
The TRL is currently engaged in a number of projects utilizing wireless telecommunications aimed at developing robust systems that are scalable, connectable to and interoperable with terrestrial and space-based systems to enable rapid deployment during and after disasters. Collaborators include the SFU PolyLAB, Industry Canada - Emergency Telecommunications, Emergency Preparedness Canada, Communications Research Centre, TMI Communications (MSAT), Telesat Canada, and Wi_LAN Inc. Terrestrial interconnection is provided through wireless TCP/IP systems, the Internet and CA*net 2/3, facitated in partneship with SFU's Computing Operations and Technical Support.
One specific area of concern is the vulnerability of terrestrial infrastructure to large and catastrophic earthquakes (especially on the West Coast of Canada) and the lack of alternative communication infrastructure to ensure effective disaster response, relief and recovery coordination between all levels of government and supporting organizations. In this regard, if appropriately deployed, terrestrial wireless and space-based applications can play critical roles, as they do in other disasters such as floods and severe weather events.
With the emergence of a plethora of new wireless applications, SFU is keen to explore with technology partners how they can jointly develop new disaster telematics applications to maximize opportunities for deployment of terrestrial and space products and services in disaster mitigation efforts nationally and internationally.
The following are examples of areas for collaboration:
Building scalable networks
- TCP/IP and ATM applications - moving towards bandwidth-on-demand availability. A major problem for emergency managers is forecasting bandwidth requirements before disasters occur. This problem not only applies to downloading data at disaster sites, but, conversely, to uploading data to emergency operations centres and support services, especially when there is a requirement for transmitting image data.
Connectivity and interoperability
- Establishing satellite gateway/teleports at SFU for various contemporary and emerging space systems to examine and resolve interoperability issues.
Satellite telecommunications systems would include GEO, MEO and LEO technologies. The TRL has recently acquired a GEO satellite antenna farm at an adjacent research park on the SFU Burnaby Mountain campus. These facilities will be upgraded and augmented with other ground station facilities. High speed fibre optic data service is also available at this site.
On the main campus, the TRL is currently utilizing a 2 Mbps VSAT system provided by CRC that is interconnected to wireless and wireline/fibre networks through its co-location with the main campus computing services.
- Establishing a high speed space/terrestrial gateway at SFU to interconnect CA*net 3 (OC-48) to enable distribution of raw or processed remote sensing imagery, and other large scale computing applications. SFU houses the western Canada end of CA*net 3 that provides the highest speed networking available in Canada as a test bed for high capacity networking research.
Establishing appropriate downlinking capabilities enables a variety of space-based collaborative initiatives to be shared over CA*net 3 and the contemporary Internet to form a virtual lab facility. Combined with the main campus facilities, these gateways can permit application development and testing over the widest possible scale of networking - terrestrial and space, and give the Canadian space amd wireless industry a terrestrial connection to the international networking arena. Other sites can be easily interconnected to form a nationa/internationall test-bed.
Turnkey systems for emergency managers who posses limited technical skills
- Java applications (allowing emergency responders and managers to activate ground systems that are automatically configured and updated over satellite links)
- Transportable systems and fly-in packages that require minimal setup time, including self-aligning ground stations for high seismic risk areas.
- Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) applications for small portable devices that can be carried easily in the field. WAP allows the implementation of services that can deliver content to devices with a small computing and display capability footprint. Such services can be placed on top of conventional web and database servers to greatly extend the scalability and applicability of information resources.
Alternative power systems
- Investigating and testing alternative power supplies for stand-alone operations - including solar and fuel cell technology.
Building upon emerging community infrastructure
- Investigating and determining how emerging public information infrastructure such as school and post-secondary computer networks supported by out-of-area satellite communications can contribute to community preparedness, response and recovery capabilities (especially in rural and remote regions).
Moving research and development into space-based and terrestrial wireless products and services
- Facilitating collaboration and knowledge and technology transfer between technology developers and the disaster management community.
Background studies
- Conducting research into:
- the current and potential roles and impacts of wireless technology in disaster management programs.
- technology access issues faced by disaster management organizations and resolution strategies.
- disaster communication regulatory and policy issues.
- identifying opportunities for the Canadian wireless and space industry flowing from the ratification of 1998 International Convention on Emergency Telecommunications.