ITU activities for Emergency Communications and Disaster Relief

1. ITU activities for Emergency Communications and Disaster Relief Kevin Hughes, BR kevin.hughes@itu.int Reinhard Scholl, TSB reinhard.scholl@itu.int International Telecommunication Union Submission Date:July 1, 2008

2. Highlight of Current Activities (1) • DECISIONS OF RA-07 AND WRC-07 • increased spectrum and protection criteria for relevant services • development of relevant radio systems • spectrum management needs • RESOLUTION 647 (WRC-07) – Spectrum management guidelines for emergency and disaster relief radiocommunication • places emphasis on spectrum needs and encourages administrations to maintain available frequencies for use in the initial phase of an emergency • instructs ITU/BR to assist Member States with their emergency communication preparedness activities by establishing a database of currently available frequencies for use in emergency situations

3. Highlight of Current Activities (2) • Add-ons to existing system specifications: • Early warning delivery (X.1303/CAP) • System override for emergency message broadcast: audio, audiovisual, text • Extension of short text messaging to fixed telephones (circuit-switched and IP/soft-phones) • Definition of methods to address multiple languages and communication for persons with disabilities, in particular for IP-based systems • Next Generation Networks – Emergency telecommunications – Technical considerations (Y.2205) • Definition of pre-allocated “channel” number for 3G mobile cell broadcast use (Ongoing).

4. Strategic Direction (1) • Stimulate ITU-R Study Groups to develop technical bases for telecommunication and radio systems employed in the prediction, detection, alerting and relief phases, including guidelines relating to the management of radiocommunications in such situations • ITU/BR response to Resolution 647 (WRC-07) by establishing a database of available frequencies/ frequency bands for use in emergency situations, based on information provided by administrations; (see BR Circular Letters 281 and 283)

5. Strategic Direction (2) • New standards should build (=add-on) on existing infrastructure, not require a total revamp • For new systems (e.g. NGN): emergency response functionality built-in from the start • Coordination with all stakeholders • ITU Inter-sectoral Emergency Telecommunication Team (IETT) • PCP-TDR (Partnership Coordination Panel) • Governments, industry, IGOs, NGOs • Assistance to other groups • e.g. assistance for spectrum management in disaster relief deployments by UN OCHA / WGET • Participation in events • e.g. Global Forum on Effective Use of Telecommunications/ICT for Disaster Management (ITU, December 2007).

6. Challenges • Consistently involve all stakeholders, in particular users of emergency communications • Diversified community, not only traditional telecom experts • Standards work is contribution-driven • Sensitive area (as itinvolvessovereignty, security, etc) • Respect national sovereignty when developing specifications • National regulatory frameworks • Encourage wider deployment of standards • Education, awareness and preparedness • Not a purely technical field.

7. Next Steps/Actions • Establish database of frequencies/frequency bands based on responses to BR Circular Letters requesting spectrum information from administrations in accordance with Res. 647 (WRC-07) • Ensure ITU-R Study Groups take due account of emergency communications and disaster relief in their activities and initiate/enhance activities where necessary • Encourage all relevant stake-holders to recognise the vital role that telecommunications and radio systems play in disaster management, particularly in the initial phase of the emergency or disaster response intervention • Encourage collaboration between ITU and other international organisations involved with disaster relief, including the development of standard operating procedures

8. Proposed Resolution • See draft revised Resolution submitted by ISACC

9. Supplementary Slides

10. Outline – ITU standardization work • Introduction • Radiocommunication Sector • Telecommunication Standardization Sector • Future work • Conclusion

11. Introduction

12. ITU-D ITU-T Assisting implementation and operation of telecommunications in developing countries Telecommunication standardization ofnetwork and service aspects ITU-R Radiocommunicationstandardization and global radio spectrum management ITU Overview 191 Member States +700 Sector Members ITU Helping the World Communicate

13. Role of ITU in TDR/ETS/EWS • In five words, Committed to connecting the world:  even more so in distress situations! • Long-time work on telecom for emergency situations • Morse code …(it was a long time ago…) • Three recent examples • Tampere Convention to facilitate exchange of telecom equipment in disaster relief operations • WRC-03: reserved spectrum for emergency communications • Standardization work on call priority & alert message delivery • Plenipotentiary Conference Resolution 136 • “Use of telecommunications/ICTs for monitoring and management in emergency & disaster situations for early warning, prevention, mitigation and relief ”

14. ITU’s role in Disaster Reduction (1) • Mitigation • Spectrum management • Establishment of globally/regionally harmonized frequency bands • Application of amateur and amateur-satellite services • Global circulation of emergency equipment • Support to emergency broadcasting, maritime and public safety signals • All types of networks

15. ITU’s role in Disaster Reduction (2) • Preparedness • Standards for public telecommunication services • International emergency for preference scheme for disaster relief • Message broadcast • Global network security • Interoperability of telecom networks

16. ITU’s role in Disaster Reduction (3) • Response • Appropriate project management techniques • Legal and regulatory issues (Tampere + GSR) • Universal access (early warning) • Capacity building (preparedness) • Relief (response) • Reconstruction • Partnerships (e.g., INMARSAT, WGET, OCHA, IARU)

17. Scenarios for emergency communications • Four communication scenarios: • Citizen to citizen • Authority to authority • Authority to citizen • Citizen to authority • ITU has worked in scenarios 1, 2 and 3. More work could be done • Could work on scenario 4 (more relevant to day-to-day emergency situations: fire, police, call for medical assistance, etc)

18. How the work progresses? • ITU’s work is contribution-driven: contributions  progress • Governments, users (including intergovernmental agencies and NGOs), manufacturers need to bring in proposals to enhance the features of existing systems • Trend for initial focus to be on improving what already exists, in order to be implementable in a short time-frame

19. Radiocommunications

20. Disaster phases & the radio services involved • Disaster prediction and detection – meteorological and Earth exploration satellite services • Disaster alerting – broadcast, fixed, mobile and related satellite services • Disaster relief – Amateur, broadcast, fixed, mobile and related satellite services

21. Disaster prediction and detection Meteorological and Earth exploration satellite services • Operated in the main by government and international agencies • Play a major role in prediction and detection of disasters (such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis, floods, fires, dangerous pollution, etc.)

22. Disaster alerting • Alert the central/regional/local authorities responsible for warning the public – fixed, mobile, fixed/mobile-satellite • Issue warnings to the people likely to be affected • Broadcast, sound and television • Mobile (such as TV, Radio, SMS / Cell broadcast)

23. Disaster relief • Amateur – a long history of aiding with communications during disasters • Earth exploration satellite – damage assessment • Fixed/mobile satellite - to rapidly restore communications capabilities • Fixed – transportable, higher capacity - point-to-point and local area • Mobile – coordination of relief activities, both private and public systems used

24. Resolution 646 (WRC-03)* Recommends use of regionally harmonized bands: • Region 1: 380-470 MHz as the frequency range within which the band 380‑385/390‑395 MHz is a preferred core harmonized band for permanent public protection activities within certain countries of Region 1; • Region 2: 746-806 MHz, 806-869 MHz, 4 940-4 990 MHz; • Region 3: 406.1-430 MHz, 440-470 MHz, 806-824/851-869 MHz, 4 940‑4 990 MHz and 5 850-5 925 MHz. • Encourages administrations to facilitate cross-border circulation of radio equipment intended for use in disaster relief situations * Reconfirmed by WRC-07

25. ITU Regions

26. Resolution 647 (WRC-07) Spectrum management guidelines for emergency and disaster relief radiocommunication • Places emphasis on preparedness concerning spectrum needs in the phase immediately after an emergency has started • Encourages administrations to maintain available frequencies for use in the very early stages of humanitarian assistance intervention for disaster relief • Instructs ITU-BR to assist Member States with their emergency communication preparedness activities by establishing & maintaining a database of currently available frequencies for use in emergency situations

27. RA-07 Resolution ITU-R 53 Use of radiocommunications in disaster response and relief • Assistance to ITU Member States with their emergency radiocommunications preparedness activities • E.g. listing of currently available frequencies for use in emergency situations for inclusion in a database maintained by BR • Assist other international organizations (e.g. OCHA) with the development and dissemination of standard operating procedures for spectrum management in the event of disasters

28. RA-07 Resolution ITU-R 55 ITU studies of disaster prediction, detection, mitigation and relief • It identifies areas that ITU-R Study Groups could address in their studies/ activities and develop guidelines related to the management of radiocoms in disaster prediction, detection, mitigation and relief • This is to be done collaboratively within & outside ITU to avoid duplication

29. Status of studies – global circulation Recommendation ITU-R M.1637 “Global cross-border circulation of radiocommunication equipment in emergency and disaster relief situations”Recommendation ITU-R M.1579“Global circulation of IMT-2000 terminals” • Recognize the importance of the needs of organizations dealing with disaster relief

30. Status of studies – needs of future systems Report ITU-R M.2033 “Radiocommunication objectives and requirements for public protection and disaster relief (PPDR)” • Defines objectives and needs for the implementation of future PPDR solutions • Focuses on operational needs around 2010

31. Status of studies – Broadband PPDR Rec. ITU-R M.1826 (2007) “Harmonized frequency channel plan for broadband public protection and disaster relief operations at 4 940-4 990 MHz in Regions 2 and 3” • Addresses harmonized frequency channel plans in the band 4940 - 4990 MHz for broadband PPDR radiocommunications in Region 2 (Americas) and Region 3 (Southeast Asia).

32. Status of studies – Earth exploration Recommendation ITU-R RS.1803 (2007)“Technical and operational characteristics for passive sensors in the Earth exploration-satellite (passive) service to facilitate sharing of the 10.6-10.68 GHz and 36-37 GHz bands with the fixed and mobile services” Recommendation ITU-R RS.1804 (2007)“Technical and operational characteristics of Earth exploration-satellite service (EESS) systems operating above 3 000 GHz” • Recs ITU-R RS.1803 and RS.1804 are related to development and use of Earth exploration-satellite systems employed for environment including disaster monitoring

33. Status of studies – Amateur involvement Recommendation ITU-R M.1042-3 “Disaster communications in the amateur and amateur-satellite services” • Encourages the development of robust, flexible and independent amateur service and amateur-satellite service networks, capable of providing communications during disasters and relief operations

34. Telecommunication Standardization

35. ITU-T work on TDR/EW (1) • Installation techniques for a sturdy outside plant (Handbook and L-series Recommendations) • X.1303: Common altering protocol based on OASIS CAP v1.1 • E.106: Call preference scheme over the PSTN • Support of E.106 in various ITU-defined systems • E.107: Emergency telecommunications service (ETS) and interconnection framework for national implementations • Enhancements of 11 existing protocols (ISUP, BICC, DSS2, AAL2 and IPBCP related) based on Q.Supp.53, “Signalling support for International Emergency Preferential Scheme (IEPS).” • Discussion on extension of the preference scheme to packet technologies (IP in particular) • Creation of work items in the technical committees (“Study Groups”)

36. ITU-T work on TDR/EW (2) • Preference scheme defined for two families of IP-based systems standardized by ITU: • H.323 Multimedia & VoIP (ITU-T H.460.4 & H.460.14) • IP-Cablecom (ITU-T J.260) • Media Gateway Protocol (ITU-T H.248.44, H-Series Supplement 9) • Overview of the basic requirements, features, and concepts for emergency telecoms for NGN (ITU-T Y.1271) • Definition of a E.164 special country code for emergency communications under the responsibility of the UN • Action Plan for Standardization on TDR/EW • ITU Compendium on Emergency Communications: Volume with all applicable ITU-T Recommendations • Workshops: 2002 (ETS), 2006 (Public warning)

37. PCP-TDR* • Coordination role: • Monitor the progress of technical standardization for telecommunications for disaster relief & early warning • Address coordination issues between the partners • Develop and maintain contact with entities not traditionally involved in standards development • Promote the adoption of existing standards • Participation open to all key players: • standards development organizations, • international telecommunication service providers, • related government departments, • disaster relief organizations and • other entities working in the field

38. Ongoing / future work • Add-ons to existing system specifications: • System override for emergency message broadcast: audio, audiovisual, text • Extension of short text messaging to fixed telephones (circuit-switched and IP/soft-phones) • Definition of methods to address multiple languages and communication for persons with disabilities, in particular for IP-based systems • Signalling requirements to support the emergency telecommunications service (ETS) in IP networks (Q.Supp.57) • Framework for interconnection of priority schemes across the different systems (PSTN and different IP platforms, e.g. H.323, IP-Cablecom, SIP) and across proprietary/ privileged systems • Definition of pre-allocated “channel” number for 3G mobile cell broadcast use (Ongoing) • Regulatory framework (national sovereignty issues)

39. Conclusion

40. Conclusions • ITU has historically played an important role in communications for disaster prevention and mitigation • Work already has been done in certain areas in the standardization sector for existing systems as well as NGN … but much more can be done. For the work to progress: study groups need to receive proposals from the ITU members! • For the way forward: • Understand users requirements • Identify the regulatory framework • Develop a set of global and compatible Standards • Cost aspects • Evolutionary approach • Respect national sovereignty • Partnership between Member States, private sector, Government Agencies, and NGOs • Participate! (next slide for web resources)

41. Web resources • Main ITU emergency telecoms page www.itu.int/emergencytelecoms • ITU-R emergency telecoms page www.itu.int/ITU-R/index.asp?category=information&link=emergency • ITU-T emergency telecoms page www.itu.int/ITU-T/emergencytelecoms/ • Partnership Coordination Panel on TDR/EW www.itu.int/ITU-T/special-projects/pcptdr/ • Radio Assembly 2007 Resolutions www.itu.int/publ/R-RES • Tampere Convention http://www.reliefweb.int/telecoms/tampere/ • ITU Compendium on Emergency Communications NEW! www.itu.int/publ/D-HDB-WET-2007/en • ITU-T RecommendationsNew! Free online! www.itu.int/ITU-T/publications/recs.html • ITU-T Workshops http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem