Articles Read

Week 1
Blanca Polo

An Architectural Proposal for Future Wireless Emergency Response Networks with Broadband Services.

Talks about how to build an emergency wireless network for use in rescue operations in big disasters. It has a number of concepts and ideas that I will need to research more about., However I've marked those that are of special importance to follow up.

It describes a series of requirements and performance expectations that future wireless networks must satisfy.

It talks about this network being hybrid. I agree with this but also I will add the capability of a satellite uplink in case that all else fails.

Algorithms such as flexible frequency partitioning , dynamic QoS negotiation and admission control mechanisms that are used for efficiently managing the integration of emergency response applications with other networks already in place to provide maximum performance and better services.

From the supported applications mentioned for the purpose of this work I will use the one that is related to "access to database and interactive application setup. This is the one that focuses in file transfer, efficient information retrieval and fast and reliable information delivery.

The network requirements in the article mention mobility and portability for those nodes that will provide with the connection between the wireless and the wired network. This is an important point.

It is impossible to mention all the information that I've got from this article. It has made me think of the enormous amount of work ahead of me. It is a good guide for details that need to be considered.

Some extra surfing:

• Most people say that they have purchased their cell phones to use in case of emergency. I will need to find reliable information and the exact figures for inclusion in this work. Find out the percentage of persons with cell phones.
• No cell phones in theatres comments about this. What if we get blocked and an emergency happens. Shouldn't we educate the public to carry their phones but set them in vibrate mode?
• Dead zone areas for different cellular services. I have yet to verify reliability but it seems accurate to describe the places where cell phones can't reach signal.
• Understanding cell phone coverage areas and how it works. Can these areas be expanded? At least for emergency purposes with the use of virtual cell towers or other devices such as the ones described by the article read. In particular the PBS (Portable Base Station) and the MGW (Mobile Gateway).

When emergencies happen, is precisely when everyone wants to communicate with their family and friends to make sure that everyone is ok. Calling friends at these times increases the demand for bandwidth while the available bandwidth remains the same. This is bad because then there will be more dropped calls and more problems. In these instances is when it is better to send small text messages which by definition occupy only the "left over" bandwidth and since they are not real time they can be delivered as the network becomes available.

The system in mind will use this: small text messages that can be processed and delivered as a huge file that can be transported over any available network all the way to a repository which  will organize the information and deliver it as soon as possible.

I read a little about the emergency procedures that Verizon has implemented when disaster strikes. I will add the link tomorrow, but I have a hard copy.

What I want to look into for next week:

• 802.16 e and 802.16 d
• more web surfing

Time spent:

• searching: 2 hours
• reading: 2 hours
• writing: 1 hour

Week 2