1. MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Paul English Army MARS Program Manager paul.a.english.civ@mail.mil 254-947-3141

2. Army MARS Mission Provide contingency HF radio communications to the Department of Defense and Military Services Provide international humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to US Combatant Commands Provide contingency communications for Defense Support of Civil Authorities Provide morale and welfare communications support to DOD. DOD Instruction 4650.02 AR 25-6 2

3. Concept of Support Amateur Radio operators are usually the first on the air following a disaster. By connecting the Amateur Radio Operator with the MARS operator, MARS can provide a communications link for getting related information to the Combatant Command staff charged with planning a humanitarian relief effort. Bottom Line: Over the past year, the US Department of Defense and MARS conducted exercises to test the concept for MARS serving as a conduit between Amateur Radio Operators and the US Combatant Commands who are charged with planning, providing or supporting International aide relief to the devastated area. MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC

4. International Amateur Radio Union Regions with US Combatant Commands areas of responsibility ITU Region 3ITU Region 1ITU Region 2 ITU Region 3 MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC USNORTHCOM USSOUTHCOM USEUCOM USAFRICOM USCENTCOM USPACOM

5. GAREC Amateur Radio Band Plans Emergency Center of Activity Frequencies 80 Meters 40 Meters 20 Meters 17 Meters 15 Meters Emergency Center of Activity (ECoA): IARU designated frequency in each region for establishing emergency communications 4 MHZ 3.5 MHZ 7.0 MHZ 3.985 R2 14.0 MHZ 7.3 MHZ 14.35 MHZ 18.068 MHZ 18.168 MHZ 21.45 MHZ 21.0 MHZ 3.6 R33.76 R1 7.11 R1/3 7.24 R2 14.3 R1/2/3 18.16 R1/2/3 21.36 R1/2/3 MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC

6. Disaster Event Occurs

7. MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Disaster Event Occurs Amateurs in affected area reach out for assistance, transmit disaster info on IARU designated emergency frequencies

8. 8 MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Disaster Event Occurs Amateurs in surrounding countries connect and gather information (alert other amateurs, social media, new outlets, etc) Amateurs in affected area reach out for assistance, transmit disaster info on IARU designated emergency frequencies

9. 9 MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Disaster Event Occurs Amateurs in surrounding countries connect and gather information (alert other amateurs, social media, new outlets, etc) MARS members informed of disaster, begin scanning likely ECoA frequencies Amateurs in affected area reach out for assistance, transmit disaster info on IARU designated emergency frequencies

10. 10 MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System GDACS is a cooperation framework under the United Nations umbrella. It includes disaster managers and disaster information systems worldwide and aims at filling the information and coordination gap in the first phase after major disasters. GDACS provides real-time access to web ‐ based disaster information systems and related coordination tools http://www.gdacs.org/

11. 11 MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Disaster Event Occurs Amateurs in surrounding countries connect and gather information (alert other amateurs, social media, new outlets, etc) MARS members scanning ECoA frequencies, copy disaster information, process spot report and send to US Combatant Command Amateurs in affected area reach out for assistance, transmit disaster info on IARU designated emergency frequencies

12. 12 MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC All Partners Access Network https://www.apan.org/

13. 13 MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Disaster Event Occurs Amateurs in surrounding countries connect and gather information (alert other amateurs, social media, new outlets, etc) Staff reviews disaster information May request more information be provided, posted to APAN Amateurs in affected area reach out for assistance, transmit disaster info on IARU designated emergency frequencies

14. 14 MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Disaster Event Occurs Amateurs in surrounding countries connect and gather information (alert other amateurs, social media, new outlets, etc) Staff reviews disaster information May request more information be provided, request sent to MARS Location of Amateur Call sign used Frequency used Specific Disaster details Contact info of local gov officials Types of aide needed Photos: Magnitude of disaster Potential landing areas Critical infrastructure damage Amateurs in affected area reach out for assistance, transmit disaster info on IARU designated emergency frequencies

15. 15 MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Disaster Event Occurs Staff reviews disaster information May request more information be provided, request sent to MARS MARS member receives info request, makes contact with amateur in affected area or uses other amateurs to relay the information request Amateurs in affected area reach out for assistance, transmit disaster info on IARU designated emergency frequencies

16. 16 MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Disaster Event Occurs Staff reviews disaster information May request more information be provided, request sent to MARS MARS member receives info request, makes contact with amateur in affected area or uses other amateurs to relay the information request Responding military forces authorized to communicate directly with Amateur Radio Operators in the disaster area to effectively coordinate the response efforts

17. Situation On or about 11 Aug 0730 hrs local Kathmandu time (0115 hrs Z), a massive earthquake strikes Nepal causing widespread devastation and outages to utilities including all primary communications. Nepal Amateur Radio Operators begin sending out calls for assistance on IARU designated Emergency Center of Activity (ECoA) frequencies. X MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Exercise Pacific Endeavor-14

18. Mission On 11 Aug at 0115 Hrs Z, MARS and CFARS operators begin scanning IARU ECoAs in order to listen for and report on possible disaster situational awareness traffic being sent from Amateur Radio Operators in the affected disaster area. MARS and CFARS operators will prepare spot reports containing appropriate who, what, where, and when information to be forwarded to the US Combatant Command, US Pacific Command, for their situational awareness. MARS and CFARS operators will be prepared to scan IARU ECoA frequencies again on 19 Aug at 0115 Hrs Z to listen for potential reports from earthquake aftershocks. MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Exercise Pacific Endeavor-14

19. X X MARS CFARS Incident Location MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Exercise Pacific Endeavor-14

20. Exercise Pacific Endeavor - 13 Typhoon Phailin: Oct 2013, India Typhoon Haiyan: Nov 2013, Philippines Balkans Flooding: Spring 2014 Multinational Exercise Rim of the Pacific: June 2014 20 MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Other HADR Operations and Exercises:

21. Training held on 7, 14, and 17 August 60 participants from 6 countries including: Nepal Germany US United Kingdom Afghanistan Japan Total volunteer hours: ~150 hrs (including exercise) Participating Station Locations Exercise Conditions: Message Metrics - Real world power outage in Nepal – station on battery back up and 25 Watts; used PSK 31 - Signal from Nepal reliable only to Afghanistan; intermittent to Germany and west coast US. - Gateways in Hawaii and Japan didn’t have PSK 31 capability (not a typical MARS mode) - Propagation challenging throughout exercise; delayed message handling in some instances while connection re-established - Spot Reports submitted 34 minutes and 64 minutes into Exercise; by Army MARS station in Afghanistan - 5 RFIs sent; 4 responses received due to propagation - Average response time from posting in APAN, Transmitting RFI, receiving response and posting to APAN was 22 minutes Reliable Comms Marginal Comms No comms MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Exercise Pacific Endeavor-13

22. Slow Scan Digital Images received 27 August 2013 Images transmitted from Nepal to Afghanistan Nepal using approximately 50 watts Afghanistan running approximately 100 watts Each image took approximately 2-3 minutes to transmit MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Exercise Pacific Endeavor-13

23. Typhoon Phailin: Oct 2013, India Typhoon Haiyan: Nov 2013, Philippines Balkans Flooding: Spring 2014 Multinational Exercise Rim of the Pacific: June 2014 23 MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Other HADR Operations and Exercises:

24. Amateur Radio Operators are a world-wide resource MARS members, as FCC licensed Amateur Radio operators, can serve as a vital information link between those in need and potential military responding forces following a disaster Established IARU/GAREC procedures provide a common set of standards for training Information accuracy and validity remains a concern Need to include IARU members in future Department of Defense humanitarian exercises. Language concerns 24 MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Take Aways:

25. MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Paul English Army MARS Program Manager paul.a.english.civ@mail.mil 254-947-3141 Questions