A Rapidly Deployable Communications Network Architecture for Disaster Management

It is amply clear from the recent unfortunate events of September 11, 2001 and the South-Asian tsunami disaster that there exists a strong need for a rapidly deployable communications network that would serve to provide much needed connectivity and communications capabilities to rescue workers and survivors. Disaster sites are often located in geographical areas with little or no infrastructure [1] and often cause existing communications infrastructure to saturate or become unavailable. The present document analyses the requirements of such a network and proposes a suitable architecture. Further it details an appropriate case study and a performance evaluation of the system based on expected average and peak loads.