By Peter J. Brown
In 2004, global natural disasters and terrorist attacks took a tremendous toll. In the United States, many died and billions in property damage resulted as hurricanes ravaged the southern region of the country. Japan's Niigata Prefecture was devastated by a major earthquake, which claimed numerous lives. And in Europe, dozens died in the horrifying Madrid train terrorist attack.
For first responders and other emergency management personnel facing difficult moments, access to satellite-enabled products, and satellite phone service in particular, remains a top priority. For example, both the National Guard and the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), among others, have decided that even more capable satellite equipment is needed so that their emergency personnel are better prepared and better coordinated if and when the need arrives.
GMPCS Personal Communications through Iridium Satellite LLC service provider, Telenor, provided satphone service to the Hillsborough County, FL, Emergency Support Function (ESF 3) when Hillsborough County provided mutual aid support to Polk County, FL during Hurricane Charlie. The four crews designated as part of ESF 3 arrived on scene with Iridium satphones. Through the use of the Iridium system, GMPCS was able to arrange for an expedited shipment in what would fast become a crisis scenario.
After Hurricane Charlie had unleashed its fury, Hillsborough County's ESF 3 preparedness plan was revised to accommodate a total of 40 Iridium satphones well in advance of Hurricanes Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. Today, ESF 3 continues to use some of these satphones in a training mode.
"Although public sector agencies have embraced fixed satellite services, they have nowhere near exploited the advantages of mobile satellite services," says Iridium Spokesperson Liz DeCastro. "We are seeing promising growth in public/private partnerships in developing new equipment and solutions such as asset tracking, warfighter applications and satellite imagery. Iridium certainly believes there to be unlimited opportunity in this space."
DeCastro reminds readers that while voice telephony remains the primary application for Iridium, data services represent a particularly rapid growth area and now represent approximately 20 percent of Iridium traffic.
The Emergency Management Division of the Washington Military Department (WEMD) spent much of 2004 watching for the early warning signs of a possible major eruption by Mount St. Helens; however, as the designated coordinator until September 2004 of the multi-state Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), WEMD also played a major role in Florida's hurricane response and relief effort by coordinating the involvement of 800 people from 38 states, the largest EMAC deployment in history.
Satphones are seen as valuable assets and WEMD keeps them charged and ready to go. "We have a number of satellite phones that are available in our Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for deployment to a disaster site. We also have a number of satphone units deployed to strategically placed county EOCs around the state," says Terrence M. I. Egan, mitigation, WEMD analysis and plans unit manager.
According to Austin Comerton, channel manager at Ontario, Canada-based Mobile Satellite Ventures LP (MSV), the Florida Department of Community Affairs deployed MSV's satellite- based dispatch radio solution years ago. The Connecticut Department of Public Health and California's Office of Emergency Services (OES) have embraced this approach too.
In 1999, OES created the Sky Mutual Aid Radio System or SKYMARS Network using the MSV platform. According to Comerton, California now operates five dispatch radio talk groups; four internal to the agency (including two for tactical operations and one dedicated to fire operations) with the fifth being the SKYMARS talk group, which is available to any public safety agency in California. SKYMARS exists in all six California EOCs with 10 portable units that can be deployed to any disaster site. While Florida has access to its own MSV platform, SKYMARS has been deployed from California to Florida during past hurricane recovery efforts as well.
MSV not only provides reliable communications totally independent of any terrestrial infrastructure, it also offers push-to-talk capabilities, along with one to many group communications and interoperability with LMR systems through cross banding equipment.
"Florida deployed MSV over a number of years in anticipation of serious communications problems during hurricane season. California adopted a similar position due to the fire season and Connecticut is deploying its solution to support potential terrorism, bio-terrorism, hazmat or other events that could cause interruption or failure of normal communication channels," says Comerton, who adds that due to demand for service, MSV is developing a new terminal that will incorporate GPS functionality. This new terminal will be available late in 2005.
"Many public safety agencies are still unaware of the full potential of satellite. In addition, there are perceptions that satellite technology is exorbitantly expensive or that the technology is unreliable - neither of which is the case," says Comerton.
Satellite technology can represent a powerful enhancement to existing networks. In a few cases, it can better serve primary needs where terrestrial is not suitable for any number of reasons. These can include issues such as environmental concerns, topographic issues, population density and occasional requirement," says Comerton.
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