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Arizona State University Professor Daniel Bliss, director of the Center for Wireless Information Systems and Computational Architectures, is offering advice for building a wireless infrastructure with the capacity to provide immediate, ongoing communications access during emergency situations. This is especially timely since following the damage left in the wake of Hurricane Maria, the FCC released a report stating that “nearly 50 percent of Puerto Rico’s cell sites remain out of service, with many counties operating at less than 25 percent of full service.”
In an interview with Bliss, the professor emphasized the growing urgency for wireless solutions based on three factors: increased populations near potentially affected areas, increased dramatic events due to climate change, and increased reliance on communications by both emergency responders and the public.
According to Bliss, current wireless systems serve reasonably-high density, affluent regions with well-supported infrastructure. If disaster strikes, the region no longer falls within this same criterion. Because of that, Bliss believes that basic emergency access should be a fundamental licensing component for a carrier’s operation within a region; for example, mandating access to an Emergency Alert System.
Regarding infrastructure that can remedy this problem, Bliss recommends fundamentally changing the way wireless systems operate with the flexibility to switch to a lower data rate with a longer communications range during natural disasters. With this structure, “We can provide service to communities that are currently ignored, potentially providing much wider access to information for poorer communities,” according to Bliss.
Bliss also noted that to see an improvement in flexible communication, changes in both technical and regulatory fields need to occur. With IoT on the horizon, flexibility is needed for deployment and this can have a broader impact, according to Bliss. “If we tweak the goals, the next generation of communications could be more robust in the case of emergencies and, as a side benefit, provide more access to a wider range of users, including those who are currently underserved,” said Bliss.
November 17, 2017
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