Russell J. Graves. (2004). Key technologies for emergency response. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2004 – 1st International Workshop on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 133–138). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: Emergency Response involves multiple organizations and teams, geographically distributed operations, and a high need for coordinated control and decision making. As incidents evolve, the number of involved organizations, the geographic distribution of involved entities, and the level and complexity of decision making all tend to grow. Information technology can contribute to managing these and related dimensions of an emergency. The work described in this paper is based on longstanding MITRE Corporation experience working with organizations that have severe and demanding requirements for managing complex, rapidly evolving situations, including military conflict, law enforcement engagements, natural disaster response, and terrorist incident response. Recently, we have conducted a series of detailed observations during emergency response exercises and planned events that resulted in identifying key elements for a successful application of information technologies during an emergency. © Proceedings ISCRAM 2004.
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Diego Klappenbach, Silvia Hollfelder, Andreas Meissner, & Stefan Wilbert. (2004). From analog voice radio to ICT: Data communication and data modeling for the German NBC Reconnaissance Vehicle. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2004 – 1st International Workshop on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 145–150). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: In Germany, the public safety system is largely organized by the German Federal States, which operate, among other equipment, a fleet of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicles (NBC RVs) to take measurements in contaminated areas. Currently, the NBC RVs, which have been centrally designed and procured by the German Center for Civil Defense, verbally report measured values to a Central Control Unit (CCU) over the assigned Public Safety Organization (PSO) analog voice radio channel. This procedure has several disadvantages. The channel is not secure, puts a natural limit on the achievable throughput and thus on the number of NBC RVs that can be operational simultaneously. Also, while data is being reported, other PSO members are blocked from sending. Finally, a proprietary model is used to structure the NBC RV data, so the data can only be aggregated and evaluated at the CCU but not by any other PSO unit. To overcome these problems, we propose in this paper a heterogeneous and flexible communication platform that complies with reliability and coverage requirements for PSO. More specifically, our proposed system is designed to replace current ways of communicating between NBC RVs and the CCU. We also propose to standardize data structures for data exchange to enable PSO cooperation. A drastically higher number of measured values can then be transmitted to the CCU, and the data can be processed in a much more effective manner in the CCU as well as in cooperating PSO task forces. Ultimately, this will improve NBC RV missions and consequently shorten PSO response time when dealing with NBC disasters. © Proceedings ISCRAM 2004.
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Patrick Storms. (2004). Combined systems: A system of systems architecture. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2004 – 1st International Workshop on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 139–144). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: Combined Systems is aimed at exploring distributed decision support systems in open, complex chaotic environments. On a general scale, Combined is all about decision-making: observing the environment, making decisions and effectuating these to manage the current situation. Crisis management is a typical domain in which Combined-type systems can prove their value. For this reason the Combined project uses crisis management as primary case-domain. In this paper we highlight the key technologies that are subject of the Combined research, and we describe them in the light of crisis management. © Proceedings ISCRAM 2004.
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Elina Valtonen, Ronja Addams-Moring, Teemupekka Virtanen, Antti Järvinen, & Mikael Moring. (2004). Emergency announcements to mobile user devices in geographically defined areas. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2004 – 1st International Workshop on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 151–156). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: When emergency announcements (EA) to a population in a crisis area are needed, avoiding single points of failure in the EA sending and forwarding systems is essential. We present a new concept, an extension to existing EA sending systems, which is based on real-time location information about mobile devices. Such a solution would increase the EA sending systems' robustness through redundancy and technology diversity. At the same time, these mobile emergency announcement (MEA) sending systems would increase the percentage of the threatened population that can be reached fast. The proposition is based on a set of requirements for EA sending systems, the most important of which turned out to be ensuring the authenticity and integrity of the EA information content. We found our preliminary results too optimistic: current GSM networks should not be used for sending EAs, as it is quite possible to forge SMS text messages, even to multiple GSM phones in a specific target area. The next generations of mobile phone networks (3G/UMTS and 4G) seem more promising, due to their packet-oriented architectures, as each data packet can be stamped with verifiable information about the source of the data. However, the development of communications networks with features compatible with MEA sending will demand that both authorities and independent experts take an active, early role in networks design right beside the commercial organisations. © Proceedings ISCRAM 2004.
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