Disasters pose many obstacles for integrating and coordinating emergency operations, especially when essential emergency management staff are
prevented from reaching emergency opeartions centres. New developments in
wireless and fixed information networking open significant opportunities
for overcoming some EOC participation problems.
This web site provides background information and on-line demonstrations of work
underway at Simon Fraser University's Telematics Lab to establish an
experimental virtual emergency operations centre, where wireless
information networks, interconnected to other fixed and mobile networks,
allow managers to remain in the information loop, either until they can
reach their EOC destinations, or as a substitute for physical presence at
the EOC.
The project utilizes a new 56 Kbps TCP/IP-based
packet radio network which permits access to a variety of commonly-used Internet
applications that are customized for emergency management purposes. Such a
facility enables interested groups to experiment with these applications or
to couple these efforts with those underway elsewhere using Internet and
satellite-interconnected sub-networks.
The ultimate goal of the project is
to develop low-cost, robust and field deployable wireless emergency
management information networks.
