4 ms·

I've been involved in providing comms during disaster recovery and this would be extremely useful during first-response / search&rescue. 1. You generally have

by marquis 15y ago

I've been involved in providing comms during disaster recovery and this would be extremely useful during first-response / search&rescue. 1. You generally have access to power by generators. 2. You have an entire community and international USAR (urban search and rescue) teams fly in within a matter of hours. 3. Android/iPhone/Netbooks. There is not really a shortage of these and they are easily flown in with USAR. Mobile companies have been great at donating during these times. 4. There really are bigger problems to worry about in these situations. And believe me, if someone is caught doing 'asshole' activities during a disaster, the community never lets them forget it.

wccrawford 15y ago
You have a generator every few hundred yards, all the way to where you need to communicate with, and you don't simply have a cable running that distance as well? I'm not trying to knock them. I'm glad they're trying to solve a real problem. I'm just not convinced that it's as bright and shiny as it first appears. There's a lot of other real-world problems that are going to negate the majority of its usefulness.
- marquis 15y ago
  In a disaster area cellular technology is often spotty due to massive power outages and people clogging the networks. Running ethernet cable to a series of hotspots would be great also, or using RF to propagate signals, but these things take time. If USAR teams have mesh networks built right into their phones I feel this would be extremely useful, especially in push-to-talk situations, receiving emergency notifications (fire/quake/volcano alerts, USAR needs to get out ASAP), comms back to hq etc. For me, this is an exciting and important area that can save lives and property.
- pasbesoin 15y ago
  People have car batteries. Just make sure they have a way to hook up to them. In the "first" and "second" world, they are in their cars. In the "third" world, they are charged somewhere and transported to the home (unless they are wealthy enough to have a generator). I'm in the U.S., and with this year's crazy weather, I've observed more and more people who have "thrown their hands up" and purchased a small, gasoline powered Honda or similar generator. When the power goes out, the neighborhood starts humming with the sound of generators. (I hear it somewhat in despair; it makes me worry we are truly heading in the "everybody for themselves" direction, as opposed to actually maintaining our infrastructure. Similar to how people describe the SUV trend in terms of "a way to deal with all the potholes and the streets that don't get plowed after snowstorms, anymore".)
ja27 15y ago
Me too. I'd disagree with #2 and #4. It takes a lot more than "hours" for resources outside of the affected area to arrive. I've seen plenty of asshole activities during a disaster - including someone stealing a water trailer at gunpoint from a USAR staging area. The technology generally isn't the issue - it's funding and having trained people available to deploy the gear. Florida's Division of Emergency Management (where FEMA's Craig Fugate came from) has a decent handle on this: http://www.floridadisaster.org/CIEM/2006/Slides/09%20-%20Interoperability-Information%20Mgmt.pdf http://www.floridadisaster.org/CIEM/2006/Slides/09%20-%20Int...
- marquis 15y ago
  >someone stealing a water trailer at gunpoint I can't imagine how frustrating that would be. You do however now remind me of generators going missing at night and purposeful damage of barricades.

by marquis 15y ago

wccrawford 15y ago

You have a generator every few hundred yards, all the way to where you need to communicate with, and you don't simply have a cable running that distance as well? I'm not trying to knock them. I'm glad they're trying to solve a real problem. I'm just not convinced that it's as bright and shiny as it first appears. There's a lot of other real-world problems that are going to negate the majority of its usefulness.

marquis 15y ago
In a disaster area cellular technology is often spotty due to massive power outages and people clogging the networks. Running ethernet cable to a series of hotspots would be great also, or using RF to propagate signals, but these things take time. If USAR teams have mesh networks built right into their phones I feel this would be extremely useful, especially in push-to-talk situations, receiving emergency notifications (fire/quake/volcano alerts, USAR needs to get out ASAP), comms back to hq etc. For me, this is an exciting and important area that can save lives and property.
pasbesoin 15y ago
People have car batteries. Just make sure they have a way to hook up to them. In the "first" and "second" world, they are in their cars. In the "third" world, they are charged somewhere and transported to the home (unless they are wealthy enough to have a generator). I'm in the U.S., and with this year's crazy weather, I've observed more and more people who have "thrown their hands up" and purchased a small, gasoline powered Honda or similar generator. When the power goes out, the neighborhood starts humming with the sound of generators. (I hear it somewhat in despair; it makes me worry we are truly heading in the "everybody for themselves" direction, as opposed to actually maintaining our infrastructure. Similar to how people describe the SUV trend in terms of "a way to deal with all the potholes and the streets that don't get plowed after snowstorms, anymore".)

ja27 15y ago

Me too. I'd disagree with #2 and #4. It takes a lot more than "hours" for resources outside of the affected area to arrive. I've seen plenty of asshole activities during a disaster - including someone stealing a water trailer at gunpoint from a USAR staging area. The technology generally isn't the issue - it's funding and having trained people available to deploy the gear. Florida's Division of Emergency Management (where FEMA's Craig Fugate came from) has a decent handle on this: http://www.floridadisaster.org/CIEM/2006/Slides/09%20-%20Interoperability-Information%20Mgmt.pdf http://www.floridadisaster.org/CIEM/2006/Slides/09%20-%20Int...

marquis 15y ago
>someone stealing a water trailer at gunpoint I can't imagine how frustrating that would be. You do however now remind me of generators going missing at night and purposeful damage of barricades.