Architecture for Responsive Emergency Communication Networks
Key: LAG+17
Author: Patrick Lieser, Flor Alvarez, Paul Gardner-Stephen, Matthias Hollick, Doreen Böhnstedt
Date: October 2017
Kind: In proceedings
Publisher: IEEE
Book title: Proc. 7th IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC)
Abstract: Self-organizing Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) based on Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN), are powerful tools for maintaining or reestablishing telecommunications following disasters and other infrastructure disrupting events. However, such networks typically have very limited bandwidth compared with infrastructure-based networks, with the practical effect that they cannot satisfy every demand placed upon them. Thus, if the most critical traffic is to be delivered, and in a timely manner, some form of filtering or prioritization is needed. This paper sets out an architecture for solving this problem, and presents supporting simulation and field results. The architecture is built using the input of several emergency and disaster response organizations, to ensure that the key services required by citizens post-disaster were incorporated. Reflecting the dynamic nature of post-disaster communications needs, as identified in the survey, the architecture provides a framework in which arbitrary prioritization policies can be defined, and redefined, so that the humanitarian utility of a network can be maximized according to the prevailing situation and requirements. A proof-of-concept implementation is presented, yielding orders of magnitude reduction in message delivery latency in both simulation and in a field trial of an existing disaster communications system.
View Full paper (PDF) | Download Full paper (PDF)

The documents distributed by this server have been provided by the contributing authors as a means to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work on a non-commercial basis. Copyright and all rights therein are maintained by the authors or by other copyright holders, not withstanding that they have offered their works here electronically. It is understood that all persons copying this information will adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. These works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.