Inferring network infrastructural behaviour during disasters

Abstract

An unexpected increase in natural disasters has prompted a large interest in governments and organisations to utilise ICT for many different purposes such as preparation, impact mitigation, loss reduction and relief efforts. This paper presents initial work on studying disaster scenarios from device level perspective to characterise network infrastructural behaviour during extraordinary situations. We find connectivity challenges during disasters and observe sharp decline of quality metrics and loss of station quantity between ordinary and extraordinary time periods. We also make distinctions between usual and unusual behaviour seen during ordinary and extraordinary situations.

Towards Better Understanding the Challenges of Reliable and Trust-Aware Critical Communications in the Aftermath of Disaster

“…During this period the environment is typically hazardous and there is a significant challenge in distributing much needed life and health sustaining resources which are dispersed amongst various user groups within the region [4] [5]. Natural disasters present challenging scenarios for communication with prolonged reduced performance of networking infrastructure resulting from equipment damage and network overload [6] [7]. Activities conducted in the emergency phase of a natural disaster are often distributed across a large area of harsh terrain and carried out by heterogeneous response teams.…”