Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Chapter 4 question - Tenbrink

Page 119: Suviving Hurricane Katrina

“…asks important questions about the interoperability of systems of communication during a crisis – that is, the ability for people to talk across disciplines and jurisdictions via radio communications systems, exchanging voice and/or data with one another on demand, in real time, when needed.”

Question in layman terms:
How can a niche in a society maintain communication channels even through a natural disaster?


Answer: To bridge the void in communication, an entity needs to centralize and distribute a common form of communication. People cannot effectively communicate together when they are “operating” different languages, just as people cannot always effectively communicate together while attempting to “operate” different technologies (i.e. radio to telephone). A solution for future scenario’s would be to have a strong infrastructure which can withstand the elements, being the weather or the inevitable human element. A common tongue for people to speak with, which is capable of long distances, unlike radios, and which has the capability of transmitting effectively in both directions, upload and download, while breaching the void of telephone lines and radio signals. One such solution is UMTS TDD (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System Time Division Duplex) technologies. Such technology is being implemented in New York City, incase another human travesty occurs, one which would disable the city from effectively communicating. Via VOIP, radio or mobily, through a city wide "blanket" wi-fi, this end-to-end solution would provide the remedy in which a society suffering from an inevitable disaster needs.

Links:
http://www.ipwireless.com/news/press_091206.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_IP

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