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The two best forms of communications in a real disaster and one always
has been is #1 Ham radio. and #2 satellite telephone. Ham radio is
global and has proven time and time again to be the most reliable when
the infrastructer has been damaged. The U.S government is the biggest
user of satellite telephones which is also becoming a valuable tool
again when the communications infrastructure is down. It would be nice
If Asterisk could be used but in this case but it's useless. People
are displaced and most of the communications infrastructure for the
city is unusable. I don't mean all of the telco's systems. It's the
flood that wiped out most home and business systems. For us, The best
thing that a provider can do is to have redundant servers in different
cities. This should remind us all how fragile our lives are. <br>
<br>
Chris Travers wrote:<br>
<blockquote cite="mid43236F9E.6020005@metatrontech.com" type="cite"><br>
Mark Phillips wrote:
<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Hold on here folks,
<br>
<br>
I'm guessing that the original poster of this thread isn't a member of
his local RAyNet team.
<br>
<br>
Whilst I don't profess to be an expert at this I have been doing
emergency radio for quite some time and have seen service at the
Lockerbie bombing, Docklands bomb, Ground Zero (I'm sure I'm a
terrorist target y'know - they seem to follow me everywhere) and soon
I'll be in Louisiana.
<br>
<br>
In all of these events the KISS principle must and does prevail. We
need a system that is a simple and energy efficient as possible.
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite"><br>
Building a network of * servers and Wi-Fi links is all very well but
how are you going to power them?
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
These are excellent points. I have a few interesting suggestions
here.... The first is that the only obstacle to any sort of
longer-range point to point line is merely power. This is true whether
you are talking HAM or fiberoptics. Note that if you have the power,
it would take disruption of the physical line to disrupt a fiber line.
Note that DirectNIC in New Orleans remained operational without *any*
downtime or loss of connectivity with the rest of the world.
<br>
<br>
The suggestion that I have is for various areas to have dedicated civil
emergency com units with strategic reserves of fuel (3-4 weeks worth),
battery backups, etc. These units would have links (fiber, microwave,
and/or satellite, better to pick 2 of 3) to areas outside expected
disaster zones. Asterisk could then run across these links.
(Sattelite links would best be POTS-type).
<br>
<br>
The point is to a disaster-tolerant communications infrastructure which
could then be used to to provide additional communications services to
the relief workers. With various point to point wireless capabilities,
it might be possible to use them to provide cell service to relief
workers etc through the installation of GSM microcells (which could be
brought in after the fact).
<br>
<br>
See where I am going?
<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite"><br>
Generators require fuel which is always in short supply and batteries
die out quickly. Adding Ham Radio to the picture doesn't really add
much when you are trying to do something like a * network. The radio
gear just isn't designed to integrate with the * server.
<br>
<br>
Ham radio is being used down in the Katrina affected area with great
results for both emergency and heath/welfare related traffic. They are
using both "phone" (that's when one talks in to the radio) and data
modes and can be heard all over the 75 and 40 meter bands here in the
US.
<br>
<br>
Power for most of these stations comes from batteries they loot (with
Police approval) from abandoned cars or a combo of solar and batteries.
Many stations are only hear on the air after dark so that they can put
as much sunlight into their batteries as possible.
<br>
<br>
Yes, electricity is available in some places either all day or across
the peak hours (allowing the workmen to restore power to other areas).
<br>
<br>
Yes, there are radio to phone interconnects but these really are a
single phone to a single radio. Think of it as a cordless phone in that
the radio user can be anywhere within reach of the base station.
<br>
<br>
Such technologies, whilst legal here in the US, may not be legal
elsewhere. When last at home (UK) I was not able to connect my radio to
the phone system by law (this may have changed recently - not been home
for 8 years). Many countries have such restrictions and as we saw
during the Tsunami, rules don't get relaxed just because there's a
panic on.
<br>
<br>
Without question a phone system would be much better than a radio
station. As such I'll be taking a portable * server I've built, all the
IP hard phones I can find and 5 DirectTV style Internet systems.
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
How do IP hardphones work with satellite internet? I always thought
people had real trouble getting them to work at all.....
<br>
<br>
Best Wishes,
<br>
Chris Travers
<br>
Metatron Tecnology Consulting
<br>
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