Revitalizing and enhancing critical communications during wildfires
When wildfires strike, they are unforgiving, damaging, and devastating to the critical communications supporting civilians and frontline rescue crews. Natural disasters are unpredictable, and these evolving situations require rapid response. Emergency responders tasked with quelling the inferno and keeping the public safe need a clear overview of the unfolding crisis and access to real-time voice, data, and video to allocate resources effectively. Communication infrastructure that keeps emergency response teams and the public connected and safe is often challenging during these extreme events.
Overcoming outages and congestion
Blazes typically rage in arid climates; these areas often have rugged terrain. In many instances, wind can cause high-voltage power line infrastructure to collapse and ignite vegetation. These environments usually have poor line-of-sight between the network infrastructure and the client devices trying to communicate. This has adverse effects on the signal quality. LTE and 5G cellular technologies are super convenient when they work. Still, these networks are designed for predictive use cases, for example, sunny days, not necessarily disaster areas, fraught with traffic congestion, panic, and failing power/telco wired infrastructure. So, an agile, self-optimizing, and dynamic wireless network is required.
When any infrastructure failure occurs on an LTE network, the operational effects can be catastrophic since a single tower services such a large area. When coverage is lost, calls cannot be made, text messages can’t be sent, and there is no internet access. Even if infrastructure hasn’t failed, user congestion can bring these systems to their knees. Restoring or adding LTE base stations or cell towers during a wildfire is unfeasible. These fixed networks are usually connected via fiber backhaul and with elaborate configurations. You cannot just ‘pop’ these up. After last year’s wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii (US), it took carriers nearly three weeks to get the first temporary towers operational, and even then, they had limited range and bandwidth.
Cellular networks are designed to allocate a disproportionate amount of bandwidth to downloading rather than uploading data. Suppose emergency responders are hoping to use carrier networks to update emergency central command and the public with real-time data and footage. In that case, they will be frustrated at the slow upload speeds available. Relying on cellular networks for emergency communications is terrible public policy and poor disaster planning.
When wireless cell sites that serve communities and businesses are damaged or destroyed, they can be cut off from the outside world. Getting a cellular service back up and running is challenging, taking days or weeks before being operational. The FCC has long discussed the benefits of overlapping cell sites to combat outages effectively, but dramatically improving redundancy doesn’t provide much return on investment for the carriers. When a wildfire blazes, mesh networks are more resilient and better equipped to handle this than others.
A race against time
Wireless carriers will always do their best to restore network service using “Cell on Wheels” (COWs) mobile cell towers to deliver temporary cellular coverage. However, they are never as tall as the cell towers they are replacing, so coverage is limited. In addition, because these COWs are typically powered by satellite, the bandwidth available to LTE customers is far less than they are used to since satellite connections do not have near the bandwidth of a fiber connection. Communities looking to develop a solid emergency management plan should invest in a mesh network with a satellite backhaul that can blend the best available technologies and enable interoperability with all technologies, such as LTE, satellite, and fiber optics. This is key to effectively responding to a natural disaster like a wildfire.
The interchange of information between first responders and control rooms, as well as with other emergency service crews present, is vital. This will help them deploy personnel where needed most, and offsite commanders can access real-time voice, video, and data insights to enhance their teams’ situational awareness. We saw firsthand the devastating effects of police and fire crews on the ground in Lahaina, who lacked information to share with the public who were desperately seeking safety.
High-tech solutions are changing how wildfires are battled, making fully mobile coverage necessary. Bulldozers, helicopters, and drones are vital in cutting the fire line and reinforcing the containment line to quell the fire. Cameras and sensors can be mounted onto these vehicles and equipment, allowing them to provide data and video of the scene without further human endangerment while detecting, impeding, and understanding the hazardous situation.
Providing rapid deployment and connectivity for spiraling disasters
In disasters that can intensify instantaneously, such as wildfires, a rapid response enabled by critical communication is required. Mesh technology can integrate with existing network infrastructure, such as satellite and LTE, to extend and enhance coverage for vital communications. This is particularly important in areas that have experienced mass destruction of fixed infrastructure that is no longer available. Predicting which fixed infrastructure might be damaged in a wildfire is impossible. So, it’s key to have technology capable of multi-system interoperability to ensure worst-case reliability.
In addition, sophisticated mesh architecture consists of lightweight wireless nodes that can be affixed rapidly to any asset—such as bulldozers, Police cars, fire trucks, and command vehicles—and the network can distribute internet access to all first responders dealing with the disaster. Better yet, outfit these community resources before the disaster strikes to ensure you don’t miss a beat if the FirstNet or carrier cellular network goes offline.
Supplementing first responders with mobile and real-time data
As mentioned, wireless mesh networks can enhance existing internet coverage and provide the high-bandwidth connectivity needed to support the real-time delivery of voice, video, and data. This means that the wireless nodes attached to mobile and autonomous systems such as robots and drones can provide real-time monitoring and inspection of unfolding and dangerous scenes.
With many assets, including vehicles, equipment, and people traversing the network, mesh technology is a more suitable option as it can be scaled to enable the required bandwidth and navigate evolving topology. This is vital for crews to provide a timely and effective response during wildfires.
Ensuring 24/7/365 ubiquitous connectivity
In an intelligent mesh network, wireless nodes can create distributed self-healing networking without requiring a master controller or a single point of failure. The mesh nodes can create redundant connections that relay information and data to enable continuous information flow, even if a single node is damaged or lost. This is particularly important during wildfires, as equipment can be destroyed, blockages can form from moving and falling debris, and smoke can attenuate signals.
This 24/7/365 anywhere connectivity provides more comprehensive situational awareness and allows emergency services teams to allocate resources effectively. Even when part of the network is affected, unfailing connectivity is essential for ground operations. When regions are devastated by a wildfire and reeling from communication dropouts, a self-healing and interoperable network that blends the best of the technologies available and enables interoperability is of the utmost importance.
Don’t wait until disaster strikes before you create a disaster management plan for your community. Wildfires are only one of the many natural disasters our emergency responders need to prepare for. A little preparation now will give you a considerable advantage when disasters strike.
