1. EMERGENCY WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS
ANSI Homeland Security Standards Panel (HSSP)
Workshops on Standardization
for Emergency Communications and for Citizen Readiness
Schaumburg, IL USA December 1, 2004
Bernard Malone III
Representative - Wireless Emergency Response Team (WERT)
Technical Manager - Lucent Technologies Mobility Team
Member – American Radio Relay League
Thank You
Good Afternoon
Ladies & Gentlemen - MY Privilege to SPEAK to you today

2. OUTLINE WERT and World Trade Center experience
Concepts for future Emergency Wireless Communications support
Primary Focus today -- to share thoughts
I hope begin DISCUSSION on future concepts
on USE of Wireless Tech in EMER WIR COMM
specifically – DIRECT use SEARCH & RESCUE
TO DO THIS
1. share quick SUMMARY – EXPER. - W E R T @ WTC
2. Then, a little INFORMATIVE BACKGRD that led to WERT
and – there is important observation I will HIGHLIGHT. . .
3. Then, talk briefly – thoughts for FUTURE CONCEPTs
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

3. WERT Mission The Wireless Emergency Response Team
was established on the night of September 11, 2001
to provide coordinated wireless industry mutual aid support
for Search and Rescue efforts
at the World Trade Center rubble.
The Wireless Emergency Response Team was established on the night of September 11, 2001 to provide coordinated wireless industry mutual aid support for Search and Rescue efforts at the World Trade Center rubble.
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

4. WERT WTC Summary Statistics
No survivors were found
33 organizations participated
250+ industry subject matter experts participated
An additional ~500 volunteers staffed the Public Call Center
5,039 calls received in the WERT Public Call Center
120 reports of a missing person’s use of a cell phone or pager from the rubble
134 Key Learnings
23 Recommendations
You see here some statistics from the effort
Final Report:
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

5. WERT Participating Organizations
Arch Wireless
Argonne National Labratory
AT&T
AT&T Wireless
BellSouth
CTIA
Cingular Interactive
EDO Corporation
Ericsson
FCC
Lucent Technologies
Metrocall
Motorola
NCS
NCC
NRSC
NRIC
Nextel
NYPD
NYC Mayor’s Office
Nortel Networks
PCIA
SkyTel
Sprint PCS
Telcordia Technologies
TruePosition
U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Marshals Service, ESU
U.S. Secret Service
Verizon
Verizon Wireless
VoiceStream
Wheat International
Many organizations participated. They represented
service providers, equipment suppliers and gov’t agencies.
This was a complex support mission. But it was effective because of the close cooperation between organizations and WERT leadership.
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

6. Wireless Emergency Response Team Locations
Operations
Wireless Emergency Response Team Locations
TWO things to point out ?
WERT found it useful to ORGANIZE into 5 subTEAMS
This chart shows the 5 teams and locations
You see all the SUPPORT this REQUIRED
It took 4 sub-teams to support the 1 GZL sub-team
[ explain Team functions ]
There was very close coordination of the teams. A 911 emergency call could be visible at a control center in Seattle, Washington before it was answered in New York.
Coordination Command Center
Network Surveillance & Analysis
Public Call Center
Service Provider Intelligence
Ground Zero Locating
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

7. Approach Mission of the Coordination Command Center was to
Provide leadership for the entire team
Coordinate with authorities
Manage media interfaces
Facilitate intra-team communications
Mission of the Network Surveillance & Analysis Sub Team was to
Look for any activity on call center list.
Registration, Calls, or Text Messaging activity,
Proactively screen 911 calls for false alarms.
Identify cell site of 911 call.
Look at call and registration history.
The role of the Coordination Command Center was to provide overall leadership and interface with authorities and media. The role of the Network Surveillance & Analysis Sub Team was to monitor activity from registrations, calls or text messaging. They also screened 911 calls for false alarms and identified cell sites of 911 calls. They could screen text messages for “help” or “SOS” in different languages. Pass false alarms to law enforcement.
Translation:
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

8. Approach (continued)
Mission of the Service Provider Intelligence Sub Team
provide rapid response database lookup information: associating service provider names, switch addresses, and tandem homing arrangement information with cellular phone numbers
The role of the Service Provider Intelligence Sub Team was to perform database searches to relate service providers, switches and cell phone numbers. Two service providers accounted for a large number of cell phone numbers.
Translation:
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

9. Approach (continued) Mission of the Public Call Center was to
Off load calls from 911 command center and other government entities
Receive calls and collect information about potentially trapped survivors
Obtain cell and pager numbers for missing persons
The role of the Public Call Center was to collect information about potentially trapped survivors from callers, offload calls from the 911 center and interface with other teams.
Translation:
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

10. Approach (continued)
The Mission of the Ground Zero Locating Sub Team is to . . .
aid and assist in the location of and communication with trapped survivors who possess a variety of wireless personal equipment. There is a high probability that victims will have access to some sort of wireless device (e.g. phone, pager, FOB, etc.). This provides a unique opportunity for passive remote location and establishing a wireless link for remote communication
The role of the Ground Zero Locating Sub Team was to assist with the location of and communication with trapped survivors who might possess a wireless device. This was a complex effort involving world class expertise on site and in the labs from many companies and agencies.
Translation:
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

11. Key Learnings - Examples
What Worked Well
high commitment of professionals/organizations in mutual aid
pre-established federal coordination function of NCC
ability to conduct rapid research
Adapted fraud, billing and trouble shooting tools to quickly screen call center list and 911 calls.
Provided guidelines via text messages for preserving battery life
Provide extended network coverage into debris field using RF. repeaters, autonomous basestations, and basestation simulators.
Key Learnings
The WERT Final Report contains Key Learnings. Some are:
High commitment by professionals
Pre-established federal coordination with NCC helpful
Adapted existing tools helpful
Use of text messaging for preserving battery life
Extend network coverage into debris field
Translation:
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

12. Key Learnings - Examples
Areas for Improvement and Further Investigation
pre-defined processes, definitions and templates
broad language translation capabilities
guidelines for communication with a trapped survivor between detection and location
special instructions for 911 centers for handling wireless callers
Handling 911 calls from a 3rd party
Identifying Search and Rescue mobile phones
Use of text messaging to communicate with a victim
Would the techniques learned work in another disaster scenario
The possible addition of an emergency mode for mobile equipment with extreme low-power and location beacons
Key Learnings – Examples
The WERT Final Report contains some areas for improvement and further investigation regarding processes, language translation, communication guidelines, special instructions for call center teams and more.
Translation:
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

13. Final Report Subject Matter Widely Reviewed
Describes Approaches Used
Systematically reviews Key Learnings
What Worked Well - Areas for Improvement - Areas Requiring Further Investigation
Presents Recommendations
Widely Reviewed
U.S. FCC NRIC V, FEMA Emergency Response Teams, NENA
COM CITEL (Ecuador, Brazil)
ETSI EMTEL (France), Italy, Germany Networking Conferences
IEEE COMSOC: GLOBECOM’01, ICC’02,
CQR Workshop 2002, Japan Network Security Seminar
Available to Public:
The WERT Final Report describes the approaches used and contains reviews of key learnings and recommendations. It has been widely review around the world and translated into many languages. It is available on a public internet website.
Translation:
USA
Asia
Europe
South America
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

14. “Take Away's”
Keep rescue teams from danger by quickly discrediting false reports
Assuring the public - both here and abroad - that all known technological approaches are being used to listen for any cellular or pager communication being sent
Documented Key Learnings and Recommendations in the WERT Final Report being studied so that this capability can be enhanced and optimized
WERT is established as an ongoing capability – can be called on by the NCS or FEMA 7 days/week, 24 hours/day
Take-Away Messages
Can keep rescue teams from danger
Assuring the public
Key Learnings and Recommendations have been documented so they may be enhanced
WERT is established as ongoing capability
Thank You
Translation:
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

15. OUTLINE WERT and World Trade Center experience
Concepts for future Emergency Wireless Communications support
So after experience working with W E R T
Here are thoughts in AREA of
EMERGENCY WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

16. Emergency Communications
Preferred access to public networks by officials
Dedicated emergency networks for First Responders
Inter-working with public networks
Interoperability among agencies’ networks
Amateur Radio support of communications
E911 emergency communications – for victims
Extended communications with victims beyond coverage boundaries ?
Citizen-to-Citizen ?
Consider these areas of CURRENT INTEREST (LIST)
First 5 – have to do with officials & agencies
Communicating with one another
We even have amateur radio in this role
Then, of course, we have E 911
more oriented -- to communicating with victims
But, for E911 to work
MUST be in working coverage area
There was NO working coverage area 7 stories below WTC
POINT IS -- may not be wireless coverage at disasters….
So maybe – ANOTHER area of EMER WIR CoMM for STUDY
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

17. Concept: The Rescue Network
Some ability to communicate with disaster victims anywhere
GOAL: To communicate with and locate victims
Critical when out of coverage area or surrounding network damage
Effectively ‘Extend’ the reach of wireless network communications
Capabilities may be permanent or temporary
Highly portable, quickly deployable, quickly provision-able
Combination of hardware, software, operating techniques
Network and mobile device
THAT IS -- ability to communicate with EMERGENCY victims in DISASTER
Think of sort of a ‘RESCUE NETWORK’ ability to communicate / locate
This is what was ATTEMPTED at WTC
To put it - MORE GENERAL TERMS --
Here might be some characteristics - LIST slide
INTENT – NOT to get into SPECIFICS
But to consider another area of study - EMER WLSS COMM w/ victims
AFFORDABILITY will have impact – will be considered in technical developmnt
PURPOSE today -- is simply -- to highlight this AREA
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

18. Reference
Wireless Emergency Response Team
American Radio Relay League
www3.interscience.wiley.com/ Bell Labs Technical Journal
(Wiley InterScience)
Department of Homeland Security
Citizen Corps
In CLOSING - Thank you for letting me share thoughts
How we use our national resources (for knowledge & inspiration )
Can be useful
And PRIMARILY my focus today
The concept of some kind of ‘RESCUE NETWORK’
Ability to communicate with victims in an emergency disaster
I HOPE our INDUSTRY continues the discussion on ways to
Leverage technology to effectively EXTEND the REACH
Of our networks for use in SEARCH & RESCUE scenarios.
THANK YOU
Thank You !
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

19. Backup
Many experts GAIN great technical knowledge because of the commercial WIRELESS business we are in.
And, that is indeed necessary and fantastic.
But there is another element that I found to be important when
we talk about Emergency Wireless Communications.
-- Practical experience and understanding of disaster support needs. I participated with W E R T in support of the Wireless S&R at WTC in 2001
I was inspired to get involved because of TWO THINGS:
1) commercial work – Lucent – cellular/PCS industry
2) volunteer work with disaster support orgs and amateur Radio
Commercial involvement - SELF Explanatory
Much of my life – partic. volunteer work – COMMs. Supp. For DISAS+EMER
Working with RED CROSS & CIVIL DEFENSE
We have National Resoucre – source of training & Inspiration for me
RESOURCE we can leverage -- here is BREIF overview of Amateur Radio
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

20. Amateur Radio
A voluntary noncommercial communication service, used by qualified persons of any age who are interested in radio technique with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest.
Regulated by FCC under Communications Act of 1934
License structure – Beginner to Expert
Among it’s Purposes:
Recognition of value in providing emergency communications support
Advancement of the radio art
Expansion of pool of trained operators, technicians, electronics experts
Promotion of International Goodwill
Voluntary NON-commercial comm. Service
Regulated by FCC – Comm. Act 1934
License structure -- beginner to EXPERT
Among it’s PURPOSES
Recog. Value – emergency comm. Support
ADVANCEMENT of RADIO ART
Expansion of pool ……
Promotion Intn’l GOODWILL
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

21. Amateur Radio Over 680,000 Licensed Amateurs in U.S.
Operating privileges from 1.8 Mhz - 24 Ghz
Operate communications networks for fun and community service
Communications volunteers with local Public Safety Organizations
Active:
When regular communications infrastructure damaged or overloaded
To provide interoperability among agencies
Through coordinated organizations & affiliations
Over 680,000 Licensed AMATEURs in U.S.
Operating Privileges from 1.8 Mhz to 24 Ghz
Operate Networks for FUN & community SERVICE
Often – are communications volunteers w/ Pub Safety Orgs
Active WHEN:
Reg. Communications DAMAGED or OVERLOADED
to provide Inter-Operability among agencies
Through coordinated orgs & affiliations
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

22. Amateur Radio Affiliations
National level participation
Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES)  FEMA
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES)  ARRL
ARES affiliations
Department of Homeland Security – Citizen Corps
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
National Communications System (NCS)
American Red Cross
Salvation Army
National Weather Service
Association of Public Safety Communications Officials
ARRL  SOA with Department of Homeland Security – Citizen Corps
Raise public awareness as safety resource
Training & accreditation for Amateur Radio Emergency Communications
Amateurs are involved at the National level through
R A C E S ( coord. Thru FEMA )
A R E S ( coord. Thru ARRL )
Here are some other affiliations:
DHS, FEMA, NCS, RED CROSS, and more
Last Year the ARRL signed a STATEMENT of AFFILIATION
With Department of Homeland Security
To:
1. Raise Public awareness as National Resource
2. Support Training & Accredit. For EMER Commun.
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III

23. Recent Activity Hurricane Isabel -- September 2003
Northeast blackout -- August 2003
Midwest tornadoes -- May 2003
Shuttle Columbia recovery effort -- Feb 2003
Wildfires in Colorado -- June 2002
Tornado in Maryland -- April 2002
Flooding in Kentucky -- March 2002
WTC & Pentagon terrorist attacks - Sep 2001
Storm Allison Flooding in TX & LA - Jun 2001
Earthquake in India -- January 2001
Earthquake in El Salvador -- January 2001
Ice storms in Southwest -- December 2000
Tornado in Alabama -- December 2000
Avalanche in Alaska -- March 2000
Fires in Los Alamos, New Mexico -- May 2000
Hurricane Floyd -- September 1999
Tornadoes in Oklahoma and Kansas -- May 1999
Colombian Earthquake -- January 1999
Tornadoes in Arkansas and Tennessee -- Jan 1999
Hurricane Mitch in Central America -- Nov 1998
Flooding in Texas -- October 1998
Hurricane Georges -- September 1998
Tornadoes in Florida -- February 1998
"500-Year Flood," N.D. & Minn. - April 1997
Western U.S. floods - January 1997
Hurricane Fran - September 1996
TWA plane crash - July 1996
Oklahoma City Bombing - April 1995
Here is a reference LIST of activities over
Last few years, where amateurs were involved
You see:
Hurricanes, Blackouts, Shuttle Columbia Recovery effort
Earthquakes, Floods, Fires, And more
Will take a lot to advance capabilities
It is our opportunity to leverage national resources such as this
A.R. – important – inspired me – to combine what I learned. . .
– commercial industry w/ support of emergency agencies
to support WTC
December 1, 2004
B. L. Malone III