ITU activities for Emergency Communications and Disaster Relief

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DOCUMENT GSC15-PLEN-21
FOR Presentation
SOURCE ITU
AGENDA ITEM 6.2
CONTACT(S) Colin Langtry Reinhard Scholl
ITU activities for Emergency Communications and
Disaster Relief
Colin Langtry Reinhard Scholl
Global Standards Collaboration (GSC) GSC-15
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SAVING LIVES ITU RESPONDS TO EMERGENCIES http//
web/ITU-D/emergencytelecoms/response/index.html
ITU Emergency telecommunication deployments
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Highlights Radiocommunication Services (1)

• Disaster Prediction and Detection
  meteorological services (MetAids, MetSat) Earth
  exploration-satellite service
• Alerting (early warning) amateur service
  broadcasting services (terrestrial and
  satellite) fixed services (terrestrial and
  satellite) mobile services (land, satellite,
  aeronautical, maritime)
• Damage assessment and Disaster Relief amateur
  service broadcasting services (terrestrial and
  satellite) fixed services (terrestrial and
  satellite) mobile services (land, satellite,
  aeronautical, maritime) meteorological-satellite
  and Earth exploration-satellite services

Regulatory role
Standardization role
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Highlights Radiocommunication Services (2)

• Databases relating to safety of life and rescue
  operations
• Available frequencies for use in emergency
  situations and guidelines on the management of
  radiocommunications (Res. 647 (WRC-07), Res ITU-R
  53)
• Maritime mobile Access and Retrieval System
  (MARS)
• Regionally Harmonized Frequency Bands for Public
  Protection and Disaster Relief
• preferred frequency bands listed in Res. 646
  (WRC-03)
• Report ITU-R M.2033 on public protection and
  disaster relief
• Study Group activities
• Spectrum management guidelines
• Recommendations, Reports, Handbooks providing
  technical basis for development and operation of
  the radiocommunication systems used in the
  various phases of emergency and disaster
  situations

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Highlights Telecom standards

• Add-ons to existing system specifications
• Early warning delivery (X.1303/CAP (Common
  Alerting Protocol))
• System override for emergency message broadcast
  audio, audiovisual, text
• Extension of short text messaging to fixed
  telephones (circuit-switched and IP/soft-phones)
• Definition of methods to address multiple
  languages and communication for persons with
  disabilities, in particular for IP-based systems
• Definition of object identifiers for X.1303/CAP
  messages (OASIS / WMO / ITU)
• Definition of pre-allocated channel number for
  3G mobile cell broadcast use (Ongoing)
• Use of Global navigation-satellite systems in
  emergency situations

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Strategic Direction (1)

• Further improving international spectrum/orbit
  management for effective operation of
  environmental monitoring, emergency and safety of
  life radiocommunication systems
• Stimulate ITU-R Study Groups to develop technical
  bases and standards for telecommunication and
  radio systems employed in the prediction,
  detection, alerting and relief phases, including
  guidelines relating to the management of
  radiocommunications in such situations
• ITU/BR response to Resolution 647 (WRC-07) by
  establishing a database of available frequencies/
  frequency bands for use in emergency situations,
  based on information provided by administrations
  (see BR Circular Letters 281 and 283)

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Strategic Direction (2)

• New standards should build (add-on) on existing
  infrastructure, not require a total revamp
• For new systems emergency response functionality
  built-in from the start (e.g. NGN, see ITU-T
  Y.2205 NGN Emergency Communications
  Technical Considerations)
• Coordination with all stakeholders
• PCP-TDR (Partnership Coordination Panel for
  Telecommunications for Disaster Relief and
  Mitigation)
• Governments, industry, IGOs, NGOs
• Assistance to other groups
• E.g. assistance for spectrum management in
  disaster relief deployments by UN OCHA / WGET (
  Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
  Affairs / Working group on emergency
  communication)

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Challenges

• Consistently involve all stakeholders, in
  particular users of emergency communications
• Diversified community, not only traditional
  telecom experts
• Consider applying the concepts developed for
  emergency communications to other areas such as
  cybersecurity (e.g., X.alerting on registration
  of arcs under the alerting object identifier arc
  for cybersecurity (CYBEX) )
• Standards work is contribution-driven but need to
  be regularly updated for adjusting to the
  evolving technology
• Sensitive area (as it involves sovereignty,
  security, etc)
• Respect national sovereignty when developing
  specifications
• National regulatory frameworks
• Encourage wider deployment of standards
• Education, awareness and preparedness
• Not a purely technical field.

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Next Steps/Actions

• Provide necessary radio-frequency spectrum and
  protection (from interference) to emergency
  radiocommunication systems (including disaster
  prediction, detection and relief)
• Continue updating of database of frequencies/
  frequency bands for emergency based on membership
  responses to BR Circular Letters re Res. 647
  (WRC-07)
• Ensure ITU Study Groups take due account of
  emergency telecommunications and disaster relief
  in their activities and initiate/enhance
  activities where necessary
• Encourage all relevant stake-holders to recognize
  the vital role that wired and wireless
  telecommunication systems play in disaster
  management
• Encourage collaboration between ITU and other
  international organizations involved with
  disaster relief

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Supplementary Slides
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Some of the relevant ITU-R standards (1)

• M.1637 Global cross-border circulation of
  radiocommunication equipment in emergency and
  disaster relief situations
• BO./BT.1774-1 Use of satellite and terrestrial
  broadcast infrastructures for public warning,
  disaster mitigation and relief
• M.1042-3 Disaster communications in the amateur
  and amateur-satellite services
• M.1042-3 Disaster communications in the amateur
  and amateur-satellite services
• M.1826 Harmonized frequency channel plan for
  broadband public protection and disaster relief
  operations at 4 940-4 990 MHz in Regions 2 and 3

See ITU-R Recommendations at http//www.itu.int/p
ubl/R-REC/en
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Some of the relevant ITU-R standards (2)

• RS.1803, RS.1804 related to development and use
  of Earth exploration-satellite systems employed
  for environment/disaster monitoring
• New M.1854 Use of mobile-satellite service in
  disaster response and relief
• New version Rec. S.1001-2 Use of systems in the
  fixed-satellite service in the event of natural
  disasters and similar emergencies for warning and
  relief operations
• New RS.1859 Use of remote sensing systems for
  data collection to be used in the event of
  natural disasters and similar emergencies

See ITU-R Recommendations at http//www.itu.int/p
ubl/R-REC/en
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Some of the relevant ITU-T standards (1)

• All ITU-T Recommendations are accessible at
  http//www.itu.int/ITU-T/publications/recs.html
• Installation techniques for outside plant
  (Handbook and L-series Recommendations)
• X.1303 Common alerting protocol based on OASIS
  CAP v1.1 with efficient data transfer
• E.106 Call preference scheme over the PSTN
• Support of E.106 in various ITU-defined systems
• E.107 Emergency telecommunications service (ETS)
  and interconnection framework for national
  implementations
• E.161.1 Guidelines for selection of emergency
  public numbers
• E.123 Amd.1 Contact information in case of
  emergency for mobile telephones
• Discussion on extension of the preference scheme
  to packet technologies (IP in particular)
• Creation of work items in the technical
  committees (Study Groups)

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Some of the relevant ITU-T standards (2)

• Preference scheme defined for two families of
  IP-based systems standardized by ITU
• H.323 Multimedia VoIP (ITU-T H.460.4
  H.460.14)
• IP-Cablecom (ITU-T J.260-series)
• Overview of the basic requirements, features, and
  concepts for emergency telecoms for IP-based
  networks (ITU-T Y.1271)
• Technical considerations related to emergency
  telecommunications in next generation networks
  (ITU-T Y.2205)
• Definition of a E.164 special country code for
  emergency communications under the responsibility
  of the UN
• Guidelines to select Emergency Number for public
  telecommunications networks (ITU-T E.161.1)
• Action Plan for Standardization on TDR/EW
• ITU Compendium on Emergency Communications
  Volume with all applicable ITU-T Recommendations