Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems Peter Anderson Steve Braham Simon Fraser University Vancouver, Canada

Projects Emergency Preparedness Information Exchange (EPIX) Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems (VEMIS)

EPIX Supported Projects Internet Projects Initiating and hosting WWW sites for: Federal Government Emergency Preparedness Canada Industry Canada - Emergency Telecommunications Branch Transport Canada Aviation Safety - Pacific Region

EPIX Supported Projects Internet Projects Initiating and hosting WWW sites for: Provincial Governments BC Provincial Emergency Program BC Ministry of Social Development and Economic Security (Emergency Social Services) Ontario Emergency Measures Organization

EPIX Supported Projects Internet Projects Initiating and hosting WWW sites for: Public/Private Partnership Programs Major Industrial Accidents Council of Canada Safeguard Emergency Preparedness for Industry and Commerce Council of British Columbia

EPIX Supported Projects Internet Projects Initiating and hosting WWW sites for: Volunteer NGO Programs Emergency Planners and Managers Association of British Columbia Emergency Social Services Association of British Columbia SAR Info (Search and Rescue)

EPIX Supported Projects Internet Projects Hosting WWW sites for: International Programs UN IDNDR UN ISDR

EPIX Supported Projects Internet Projects Hosting Discussion Groups Networks in Emergency Management Emergency Planning for Post-secondary Educational Institutions Canadian National Hazards Assessment US National Institute for Urban Search and Rescue

EPIX Supported Projects Emergency Support present - Internet gateway/distribution of UN - OCHA disaster sitreps and appeals Mirror site for California EDIS system during Northridge Earthquake relief and recovery operations

EPIX Supported Projects Emergency Support Manitoba Red River Floods - Internet site support for Emergency Preparedness Canada British Columbia Floods - Internet site support for BC Provincial Emergency Program and emergency distribution

Objective: During crises - to enable emergency managers to remain in critical decision-making processes regardless of physical location Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems

Technology Integration of fixed and mobile wireless and wired systems Building on common infrastructure with focus on interoperability Using TCP/IP as common bridging protocols

Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems Components Wired intra/internet systems Terrestrial wireless systems Satellite telecommunications

Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems 56 kbps UHF TCP/IP wireless system behaves like a slower speed version of standard Ethernet system used in most offices Initial Wireless Internet Component Present

Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems supports point-to-point and multi-point networking over large geographical areas (i.e Km) Initial Wireless Internet Component

Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems Applications electronic mail world wide web and gopher databases voice and videoconferencing audio and video streaming mobile, portable and fixed stations bridges and gateways between other networks Wireless Internet Component

Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems Mobile applications Wireless Internet Component

Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems Urban Applications Wireless Internet Component

Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems MSAT DirecPC VSAT Other Interconnectable Wireless Technologies Satellite-based

Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems Other Wireless Technologies Terrestrial Cellular/PCS HF radio High speed spread spectrum radio

Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems British Columbia VEMIS Project interconnecting local, provincial and federal government emergency operations centers and field sites national and international collaboration by “tunneling” across the Internet

Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems if available, can connect to any Internet LAN as a point-of-presence - i.e. government offices or school computer labs in small communities unique set of Internet addresses (IP numbers) allows for greater control over wireless applications and interconnected sites intra/internet connectivity

VEMIS Configuration Current CBC Mt. Seymour Rptr VE7SFU Burnaby Federal Joint Alternate Site Cloverdale Sumas Mtn Rptr Federal Government CRC Ottawa World Wide Internet VSAT MSAT DirecPC Legend: Landline 56 Kbps Radio Satellite Legend: Landline 56 Kbps Radio Satellite MSAT DirecPC Portable VSAT MSAT DirecPC

Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems Phase Two Upgrading wireless backbone to highspeed 4.5 Mbps - >100 Mbps Establishing emergency satellite teleport with SFU to become an emergency ISP

Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems

Simon Fraser University Telematics Research Lab PolyLAB Computing Services Industry Canada Communications Research Centre Pacific Region – Emergency Telecommunications Emergency Preparedness Canada Discovery Parks Inc. Wi-LAN Inc. TMI Inc. Participating Organizations

Other Related Activities NASA Haughton-Mars99/2000 Expeditions - applying disaster communications concepts to space travel

Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems Other Fields of Use remote data gathering and monitoring (e.g., flood and seismic monitoring)

Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems Video Conferencing via satellite

Virtual Emergency Management Information Systems Java Workstation connection via satellite

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