Brittney Romanowski
IST 220 Honors Option
3/11/14
Superstorm Sandy
In late October of 2012, Superstorm Sandy went through the Caribbean and the East
Coast of the United States causing devastation and wide spread outages to millions of
people. In an effort to keep people connected and give them power, officials worked with
National Disaster Recovery teams and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to
deploy telecommunication aid (Gibbs 25). A few types of the aid that were deployed were
mobile cell platforms, charging stations, and Cells on Light Trucks. In this paper I will
describe each type of the aid and how it worked to serve the members of the communities
affected by Superstorm Sandy.
The first aid used was mobile cell platforms also referred to as Cells on Wheels or
COWs. A mobile cell platform is used to provide temporary wireless and network coverage
to areas affected by natural disasters or to areas that have minimal coverage (“Cell On
Wheels COWs”). These mobile towers are brought in on trucks, vans, or trailers to the
affected area and can provide fully functional service. These mobile platforms include a
cellular antenna and electronic radio transceiver devices in order to make them function
for cell phone communication. In order for the Cells on Wheels to handle backhaul from the
network they also are enabled with terrestrial microwave, satellite, and wired
infrastructure. The plus side to using mobile cell platforms during disasters such as
Superstorm Sandy is that they are relatively inexpensive to deploy in a time of need and
can be fully functioning and ready to use in under two hours (“Cell on Wheels”). Utilization
of COWs is a great solution for something as important as keeping people connected during
natural disasters.
Cells on Wheels (COWs):
http://arstechnica.com/features/2012/08/why-your-smart-device-cant-get-wifi-in-the-home-teams-stadium/
The next aid that was used to help aid victims of Superstorm Sandy was charging
stations. These charging stations usually come in the form of trucks and offer free power to
those affected by the storm and need to charge mobile devices such as cell phones. Two
companies that deployed charging stations were Verizon and Duracell. Duracell’s rapid
responder four-by-four truck that was used had the capability to charge mobile phones and
devices such as computers (“Duracell Brings Charging…”). Their charging station also
allowed computers or devices with internet access to be able to connect to the internet to
use their email and social media accounts (“Duracell Brings Charging…”). Duracell’s
charging station was more important and useful than the average charging station because
it was a 4 x 4. A charging station that was a 4 x 4 truck provided a more agile way of getting
to the areas that were hit much harder and needed relief the most.
Duracell 4 x 4 charging station
http://www.mdgadvertising.com/blog/duracell/
Verizon’s charging station
http://anxietyindex.com/2012/11/duracell-verizon-att-offerelectricity-for-hurricane-victims/
The third and final aid used during Superstorm Sandy, were Cells on Light Trucks.
Cells on Light Trucks, commonly referred to as COLTs, provides voice and data connectivity
over cellular within two hours of parking in a disaster area. AT&T was one of the
companies who deployed Cells on Light Trucks after the devastation of Superstorm Sandy
to provide cellular coverage (“AT&T Reveals…”). Cell on Light Trucks (COLTs) are smaller
than Cells on Wheels (COWs) but have two microwave antennas. These COLTs are entirely
contained cell sites that have antennas that can reach up to 60 feet. COLTs did not only help
members of the community affected by Superstorm Sandy, but also helped emergency
personnel as well. With Cells on Light Trucks being much smaller than Cells on Wheels,
they can go pretty much anywhere in the country on their own and supply up to three days
of wireless service, in a prompt manner.
Cells on Light Trucks (COLTs):
http://telecomsitesolutions.com/CellSiteonLightTrucks.htm
http://telecomsitesolutions.com/CellSiteonLightTrucks.htm
In conclusion, Natural Disaster Recovery teams, The Department of Homeland
Security, and numerous other companies and organizations did a phenomenal job trying to
keep all of those affected by Superstorm Sandy connected. They accomplished this by
deploying many Cells on Wheels (COWs), charging stations, and Cells on Light Trucks
(COLTs) to areas that had massive power outages to the offer relief to the residents of
those communities and the emergency personnel in the disaster area. By doing so, they
were able to provide cell phone service, areas to charge cell phones or other devices, and
Internet access. They kept people connected in a very pressing time of need, and made
recovery a little bit easier.
Works Cited
"AT&T Reveals How the Network Survived Hurricane Sandy." - The Inquirer. N.p., n.d. Web.
11 Mar. 2014. <http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/feature/2231811/at-t-talksabout-its-disaster-recovery-strategy-during-hurricane-sandy/page/2>.
"Cell On Wheels (COW)." Techopedias. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.techopedia.com/definition/26001/cell-on-wheels-cow>.
"Cell on Wheels." Cell on Wheels. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. <http://mertelecom.com/?CategoryID=292&ArticleID=114>.
"Duracell Brings Charging Stations to Battery Park After Hurricane Sandy." Advertising Age
News RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. <http://adage.com/article/news/duracellbrings-charging-stations-battery-park/238078/>.
Gibbs, Linda I., Deputy Mayor, and Caswell F. Holloway, Deputy Mayor. Hurricane Sandy
After Action. Rep. N.p., May 2013. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.nyc.gov/html/recovery/downloads/pdf/sandy_aar_5.2.13.pdf>.