International Telecommunication Union
Telecommunications for
Disaster Relief (TDR):
Technical requirements and
standards
P.A.Probst
Senior Telecommunication Adviser, Swisscom
Chairman SG16/ITU-T
WTSA-2004, Florianópolis, 5-14 October 2004
Summary
 TDR scope
 Trends
 Role of standards
 First steps and progress report
 Conclusions on future work
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WTSA-2004, Florianópolis, 5-14 October 2004
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TDR scope (1)
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During natural and manmade disasters, rapid
organization and co-ordination of recovery
operations is essential to save lives and
restore the community infrastructure
Recovery operations depend upon ready
availability and access to telecommunication
resources to support urgent communications
Telecommunication networks often
experience severe stress due to damaged
infrastructure and/or very high traffic loads
WTSA-2004, Florianópolis, 5-14 October 2004
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TDR Scope (2)
Telecommunication networks: normal
operating conditions
Customers
Voice S+A
Dedicated
Networks
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Data S+A
MM S+A
IP-based
Networks
CS-Networks
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TDR Scope (3)
Telecommunication networks:
operations in crisis situation
Customers TDR-Users
Voice S+A
Dedicated
!
Networks
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MM S+A
Data S+A
IP-based
Networks
!
!
CS-Networks
!
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TDR Scope (4)
Telecommunication networks
in crisis situation: category of
customers and their needs ?
Citizens
Citizens
NGOs
Authorities
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TDR scope (5)
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There is a need to provide specific resources
for authorized users (e.g. governments, fire
brigades, police, medical services, etc…)
The development and standardization of
emergency telecommunication service
capabilities provides the means for disaster
recovery activities to effectively communicate
Specific standardization activities are
therefore required to efficiently support these
requirements
ITU-T can take advantage of its unique
industry-government environment to produce
relevant Recommendations
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TDR scope (6)
Concept of Emergency telecommunications,
ETS and TDR:
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Access for the public to emergency utilities like police,
medical and rescue services:
 Citizen Emergency Service (911, 112, …)
Provision of telecommunications capabilities on a per
occasion basis for disaster relief and mitigation:
 Telecommunications for Disaster Relief (TDR)
Capabilities of public telecommunications services
(supplementary services) made available to national
authorities to facilitate communications between and
from authorized users in specific situations (emergency
and disaster situation, emergency preparedness, …)
 Emergency Telecommunications Services (ETS)
WTSA-2004, Florianópolis, 5-14 October 2004
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TDR trends
 Situation in the past:
-TDR are/were based on PSTN, ISDN,
PLMN, 2G-mobile
- Circuit switched technology
- Voice centric applications
- National solutions
- Limited inter-working
 Present trends:
- Use the possibility of multimedia (video)
- New applications/services based on
mobility, location-based information,…
- Evolution to IP-based platforms
- Needs for global solutions (international)
- Improve inter-working between platforms
(public/private)
- ….
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Key issues for TDR
standardization
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Customers:
- segmentation
- requirements
Services and applications (incl QoS)
- use of existing facilities
- extension (new needs?)
Network capabilities for TDR support
Inter-working at
- Service and application level
- Network level
Regulatory framework
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The role of standards for TDR
o
Inter-working, compatibility, evolution, economy of
scale, … are the main drivers for the development of a
Family of standards to ensure global
interoperability of emergency
telecommunications…
- maintaining foundation of existing national
capabilities,
- enabling new national capabilities to be
established,
- expanding communications internationally
on priority basis,
- mapping ETS indicators code at national
gateways,
- facilitating orderly evolution to advancing
technologies and enhanced capabilities.
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First steps towards TDR
standardization in ITU-T (1)
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Contributions submitted to several Study
Groups to develop Recs on ETS/TDR (2001)
The need for improved coordination and
liaison with other SDOs was recognized
Experiences made during the events in
2001/2002
Projects on Security (SG17) and NGN (SG13)
Needs expressed by the ITU-T membership,
to develop a global and harmonized set of
standards for ETS/TDR capabilities in close
co-operation with other SDOs
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First steps towards TDR
standardization in ITU-T (2)
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Development and approval of a Question in
SG16 (Q I/16 on TDR approved in October
2002)
Questionnaire on the use of public telecom
services for emergency and disaster relief
operations (TSB-Circular 132/15-11-2002)
Workshop on TDR (February 2003)
Development of first Recs (E.106/SG2, draft
Rec. F.706/SG16)
Creation of an informal coordination entity:
TDR Partnership Coordination Panel (TDR
PCP, endorsed by TSAG in February 2003)
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First steps towards TDR
standardization in ITU-T (3)
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TDR Partnership Coordination Panel
Mandate:
Monitor the progress of the technical standardisation
work in general and in particular its mapping with the
requirements of the different categories of users
- Address high-level coordination issues between
the partners involved
- Develop and maintain the links with entities not
traditionally involved in the development of
standards
- Report on the progress to TSAG
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First steps towards TDR
standardization in ITU-T (4)
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TDR Partnership Coordination Panel
Summary of the results of the PCP-TDR
Meeting in Geneva (May 2004 during SG4):
- ETS and TDR concepts discussed and proposal to
consider them separately,
- Detailed TDR/ETS aspects best dealt with by the
experts in the specialised SGs,
- Lack of overall coordination question for the various
SGs,
- Specific security requirements for TDR/ETS over and
above those of the service capabilities,
- Concept of interworking of ENIs (ETS National
Implementation) would be a basis for ITU-T work,
- Need to improve further the definitions and the
concepts of TDR and ETS.
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TDR: organizations involved in
the development of standards
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ITU-T SGs involved: SG2, SG3, SG4, SG9,
SG11, SG12, SG13, SG15, SG16, SG17,
SSG
ITU- D: SG 2
ITU-R: SG4, SG9
IETF
ETSI
TIA
ASTAP
UN WGET
NGOs
…
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TDR Standardization: progress report (1)
GENERAL:
o
The importance of global international standards in the
area of ETS/TDR has been recognized,
o
Since various players are involved, there is a need for
coordination in the development of ETS/TDR
standards,
o
Considering the evolution of telecommunication
networks (IP, Multimedia, Mobile, etc…) a redesign of
the traditional systems supporting TDR capabilities
seems to be necessary,
o
The understanding of the needs of the various users
has been improved,
o
Refinement of the ETS and TDR concepts,
o
Creation of an open informal platform to contribute to
the development of TDR/ETS Standards (PCP-TDR),
o
Initialization of the work in the relevant ITU-T SGs,
o
Approval of first TDR relevant ITU-T Recs,
o
Considerations on future work in view of the new SG
structure.
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TDR Standardization: progress report (2)
How to structure future ETS/TDR work?
TDR-PCP views are that,
o
The Definition of TDR and ETS needs further refinements,
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There is a need for a specific TDR/ETS overall coordination
question,
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The detailed TDR/ETS aspects are best dealt with by the
experts in each Study Group specialization,
o
The TDR-PCP needs a parent SG,
o
The TDR-PCP suggested to include the general
requirements and coordination as part of a “network” (or
NGN) SG.
TSAG concluded that,
o
ETS/TDR specific aspects will be dealt with in the specialized
SGs,
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Three possible options for the SG responsible for general
TDR requirements: SG M, SG K, SG I,
o
PCP-TDR will report to the SG that defines the general TDR
requirements.
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Conclusions: Key factors for
success and challenges
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Understand users requirements
Identify the regulatory framework
Develop a set of global and compatible
Standards
Cost aspects
Evolutionary approach
National sovereignty
Partnership between Member States, private
sector, GOs and NGOs
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