Telecommunications for Disaster Relief (TDR): Technical requirements and standards

1. Telecommunications for Disaster Relief (TDR):Technical requirements and standards P.A.Probst Senior Telecommunication Adviser, Swisscom Chairman SG16/ITU-T

2. Summary • TDR scope • Trends • Role of standards • First steps and progress report • Conclusions on future work

3. TDR scope (1) • 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 • a

4. TDR Scope (2)Telecommunication networks: normal operating conditions Customers MM S+A Voice S+A Data S+A IP-based Networks Dedicated Networks CS-Networks

5. TDR Scope (3)Telecommunication networks: operations in crisis situation Customers TDR-Users Voice S+A MM S+A Data S+A ! IP-based Networks ! ! ! Dedicated Networks CS-Networks

6. TDR Scope (4) Telecommunication networks in crisis situation: category of customers and their needs ? Citizens NGOs Citizens Authorities

7. TDR scope (5) • 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

8. TDR scope (6) Concept of Emergency telecommunications, ETS and TDR: • 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)

9. 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)- ….

10. Key issues for TDR standardization • 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

11. The role of standards for TDR • Inter-working, compatibility, evolution, economy of scale, … are the main drivers for the development of aFamily 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.

12. First steps towards TDR standardization in ITU-T (1) • 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

13. First steps towards TDR standardization in ITU-T (2) • 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)

14. First steps towards TDR standardization in ITU-T (3) • 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

15. First steps towards TDR standardization in ITU-T (4) • TDR Partnership Coordination PanelSummary 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.

16. TDR: organizations involved in the development of standards • 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 • …

17. TDR Standardization: progress report (1) GENERAL: • The importance of global international standards in the area of ETS/TDR has been recognized, • Since various players are involved, there is a need for coordination in the development of ETS/TDR standards, • Considering the evolution of telecommunication networks (IP, Multimedia, Mobile, etc…) a redesign of the traditional systems supporting TDR capabilities seems to be necessary, • The understanding of the needs of the various users has been improved, • Refinement of the ETS and TDR concepts, • Creation of an open informal platform to contribute to the development of TDR/ETS Standards (PCP-TDR), • Initialization of the work in the relevant ITU-T SGs, • Approval of first TDR relevant ITU-T Recs, • Considerations on future work in view of the new SG structure.

18. TDR Standardization: progress report (2) How to structure future ETS/TDR work? TDR-PCP views are that, • The Definition of TDR and ETS needs further refinements, • There is a need for a specific TDR/ETS overall coordination question, • The detailed TDR/ETS aspects are best dealt with by the experts in each Study Group specialization, • The TDR-PCP needs a parent SG, • The TDR-PCP suggested to include the general requirements and coordination as part of a “network” (or NGN) SG. TSAG concluded that, • ETS/TDR specific aspects will be dealt with in the specialized SGs, • Three possible options for the SG responsible for general TDR requirements: SG M, SG K, SG I, • PCP-TDR will report to the SG that defines the general TDR requirements.

19. Conclusions: Key factors for success and challenges • 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