Collection and Distribution of Disaster Field Data
Johan Sigholm
Dept. of Military Studies
Swedish National Defence College, Stockholm, Sweden
Abstract—This extended abstract describes a field test of the
Field Information Support Tool (FIST) during the international
Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief exercise Pacific
Endeavor 2010, in Singapore and the Philippines.
I. INTRODUCTION
Large Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief
(HA/DR) operations, engaging both multinational and multiorganizational responding entities, require comprehensive
coordination in order to achieve adequate efficiency, a key in
minimizing suffering and maximizing saved lives. Disaster
rescue workers commonly experience time as a critical factor
during their efforts, where every elapsed minute can make the
difference between life and death. This fact creates a
requirement for a competent logistics network, where
available resources can effectively be distributed to areas with
certain demands, such as food and water, medical supplies,
vehicles, tools, power generators etc. However, efficient
resource distribution is dependent on detailed and up-to-date
knowledge of existing needs and available assets [1]. This
requires the collection of disaster area field data, which may
be analyzed and processed to form a basis for subsequent
action.
The Field Information Support Tool (FIST) [2], developed
as a research project at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, is
a tool aimed at improving the process of collection and
distribution of field data. Based on experiences from
reconnaissance missions in Iraq, where expensive and bulky
proprietary equipment was predominantly used, FIST instead
leverages use of commonly available smartphones. A special
FIST application (app) has been created for Android, an open
source operating system for smartphones. The FIST app lets
users create reports of field observations, combining GPSbased location data, date and time, photos, video sequences,
audio, drawings and text. The reports are stored locally on the
phone and transmitted to a central server through either the
GSM/3G network or a Wi-Fi connection where available.
resources for humanitarian assistance and restoring operations
of damaged communications systems.
During the exercise, FIST data collection was performed by
a group of U.S. Marine Corps soldiers on site in Manila. The
created reports were transferred to the Communications
Information System Coalition Communications Center
(CISCCC), in charge of the combined communications (C6)
operations, based at the Changi C2 Center in Singapore. Since
the scenario involved infrastructure disruption in the Manila
area, it took a few days until reports could be distributed
(using satellite uplinks). Cellular service was not restored until
towards the end of exercise, when QuickLink mobile
GSM/3G equipment from Ericsson Response was in place.
The FIST system was shown to work as planned in this
environment, delivering reports with collected field data
continuously during the exercise. The reports were processed
and used as basis for decisions on resource distribution. Field
data distributed from Manila was also integrated into the
Common Operation Picture, displayed in the CISCCC and
accessible through the All Partners Access Network (APAN)
available to all participating nations.
III. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
The Field Information Support Tool, along with similar
tools such as POSIT [3], are gaining momentum as cheap,
user friendly and easily accessible tools for collection and
distribution of field data in disaster scenarios. However,
problems which remain to be thoroughly investigated and
addressed are the security and privacy aspects of the data
collection, how data is transferred, stored, processed, used and
distributed to third parties. Further challenges involve
adaptation to emerging communication technologies such as
inter-organizational Reconfigurable Radio Systems [4].
REFERENCES
[1]
II. EVALUATION
Live field tests of the FIST system were performed during
Pacific Endeavor (PE10), a two-week scenario-driven HA/DR
exercise engaging over 20 different nations from the AsiaPacific region, in August 2010. The scenario; Following a
severe earthquake with an epicenter near Manila in the
Philippines, killing thousands of people and leaving even
more trapped under debris, a Multinational Task Force (MNF)
is assembled, consisting of the participating countries. The
MNF is charged with supporting local authorities, providing
[2]
[3]
[4]
Asplund, M., Nadjm-Tehrani, S. and Sigholm, J., “Emerging
Information Infrastructures: Cooperation in Disasters”, in Setola, R. and
Geretshuber, S. (eds.) Critical Information Infrastructures Security,
Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) 5508, Springer-Verlag
Berlin Heidelberg, 2009, pp. 258-270.
Longley, C. T., “Field Information Support Tool”, Master’s Thesis,
Naval Postgraduate School, September 2010.
Asplund, M., de Lanerolle, T., Fei, C., Gautam, P., Morelli, R., NadjmTehrani, S. and Nykvist, G., “Wireless Ad Hoc Dissemination for Search
and Rescue”, in Proc. 7th International Conference on Information
Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM2010), Seattle,
WA, U.S.A., May 2010.
Sigholm, J., “Reconfigurable Radio Systems: Towards Secure
Collaboration for Peace Support and Public Safety”, in Proc. 9th
European Conference on Information Warfare and Security (ECIW
2010), Thessaloniki, Greece, July 2010, pp. 268-274.