DUMBO demonstration simulates real disaster

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The demonstration presented a simulated disaster scenario which caused significant damages and disrupted traditional telecommunication services like fixed/mobile phone networks and local Internet access. Emergency workers quickly installed satellite Internet access and established mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) in the affected areas to enable broadband multimedia communications. The demonstration presented a coordinated search and rescue operation among two separate elephant camps in Phuket, approximately 10 kilometers apart, and a distant command center located in AIT’s intERLab.

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The live broadcast of the experiment was conducted by French and Japanese teams, presumed to be emergency workers in each of the two elephant camps.  Another team at the central command center, located in intERLab, supervised the overall search and rescue efforts.  Each elephant camp had eight elephants and 10 people acting as emergency workers including student volunteers from a local university.  Some emergency workers rode on elephants equipped with either small laptops or PDAs that were parts of the MANET running the OLSR routing protocol; others walked on the ground carrying such the same units. A specialized peer-to-peer application was installed on every laptop to help emergency workers communicate with each other and with the command center. Elephants can enter lands and water difficult to reach by people and heavy machines.

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A MANET consists of mobile nodes that automatically cooperate to support the exchange of information among the nodes through wireless medium.  Since the MANET does not rely on fixed telecommunication infrastructure, the MANET is suitable for emergency situations and can be set up within a relatively short amount of time.  Using lightweight portable mobile nodes, MANET coverage can stretch out and penetrate deep into areas not easily accessible by roads or into areas where telecommunication infrastructure has been destroyed.

During the demonstration, the two sites in Phuket were simulated disaster sites, with workers recovering searching for “victims.” The command center in intERLab sent commands down to the two disaster sites as well as cooperated with experts on the Internet.

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The demonstration showed how DUMBO allows emergency workers to communicate and collaborate effectively using streaming video, voice over IP (VoIP), and short messages in the search for victims. 

DUMBO allows streaming video, VoIP and short messages to be simultaneously transmitted from a number of mobile laptops to the central command center, or to the other rescuers at the same or different disaster sites.  The DUMBO command center has a face recognition module that identifies potential matches between unknown victims’ face photos taken from the field and a collection of known face images stored at the command center.  In addition, sensors can be deployed to measure such environmental data as temperature and humidity.  Data from the sensors can be sent to the command center who analyzes or passes it on to the other mobile nodes.  The command center can flexibly be located either in the disaster areas or anywhere with Internet access.

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Project DUMBO is a collaboration among three main research groups: AIT’s intERLab, INRIA (France), and the WIDE Project (Japan). Other technical partners include Telecoms Sans Frontieres (France), LiveE Project (Japan), and I2R (Singapore). The project is co-sponsored by STIC_ASIE Project, INRIA, Regional French Cooperation (France), Asia Broadband (Japan), the Ministry of ICT, Shin Satellite, IIJ (Japan), CAT Telecom (Thailand) and APAN-TH (APAN05). The project is headed by Prof. Kanchana Kanchanasut, intERLab.

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On the same day, an agreement was signed between AIT and TSF. The objective of the agreement is emergency telecommunications cooperation. These  activities will be carried out through the TSF Office for Asia and the Pacific, which is based on the AIT campus within the Telecommunications field of study. It will present opportunities to make sure that the emergency telecommunications research at AIT is grounded in reality, relevant and tested and applied in real situations. It  will provide opportunities for the institute’s volunteering students, faculty and  staff to contribute to the purpose of assisting communities in  distress and to gain through this valuable professional and human  experience.

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TSF is amongst the foremost and leading non-governmental organizations specializing in emergency communications, when existing networks are seriously damaged or destroyed.  A large number of advanced research issues can be pursued to refine and enrich DUMBO.

During his speech at the MoA signing, AIT President Said Irandoust said “This is what AIT is about: advanced technology directly applied to answer the concerns and needs of communities, enterprises and nations. Higher learning grounded in the deep realities of a world in development and which is facing many crises. That’s why at AIT, ‘Information and Communication Technologies’ is better understood as ‘Information and Communication Technologies for Development,’ and we are making in that one of our five key research priorities. But we can’t do that alone.”

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Prof. Irandoust and Mr. Jean-François Cazenave, President of TSF, signed the agreement. Apart from AIT faculty and staff members, also attending the demonstration and the MoA signing were several distinguished guests: Gen. Choochart Promphrasid, chairman, National Telecommunications Commission, Thailand; Mr. Pascal  LE DEUNFF, first counselor, French Embassy, Thailand; Mr. Daisuke Okabe, first secretary, Japanese Embassy; Dr. Abdo Malac, scientific cooperation attaché, French Embassy; Mr. Thierry Schwarz, regional counselor, French Embassy; Mr. Dylan Gelard, French Embassy; Ms. Monique Lanne-Petit, director of TSF; Mr. Simon Genin, TSF delegate for Asia; Mr. Setsuya Kimura, president of NTT Communications (Thailand); Prof. Kilnam Chon, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea; Mr. Mongkol Meeloon, Department of Special Investigation, Thailand; Mr. Narawit Poulin, Department of Special Investigation, Thailand; Dr. Vimolrat N., Deputy MD, APAN Secretariat, Thailand; Dr. Tomomitsu Baba, Kurashiki Univ.of Science and the Arts Jun Murai, Keio University, Japan

To read media reports on the demonstration, click on the following links:

http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/392185
http://www.telecomweb.com/tnd/20566.html

Agence France-Presse story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061201/tc_afp/thailandfrancetelecom_061201115217
http://metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20061201-082730-9262r
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/158151.asp
http://www.bakutoday.net/view.php?d=30248
http://ipcommunications.tmcnet.com/news/2006/12/01/235351.htm?p=news
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Technology/Thailand-adopts-new-wireless-network-for-disasters/2006/12/01/1164777790929.html

For further information, please contact pssu@ait.ac.th