Abstract
Disasters introduce challenges in providing affordable and reliable communications. Before temporary GSM base stations are in place, rescue teams have to deploy and cope with VHF radios as well as high-cost satellite connections without packet-based local connectivity between the members. The above issues became one of our motivations to develop a low cost and low energy consumption wireless sensor network based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, in order to provide fast and easy to deploy infrastructure. In this paper, we describe a design and current implementation of a wireless sensor network prototype. We also propose a design of a gateway. It interconnects the wireless sensor network and an IP-based wireless backhaul, enabling voice and data communication, e.g., between headquarters, command posts and field rescuers, in real-time. Finally, we show initial results and an evaluation of our system, which lead to the plan for future improvements.
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Acknowledgments
The work reported in this paper was partly supported by the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes) in the framework of the EUREKA/Celtic project Converged Infrastructure for Emerging Regions (CIER). The authors would like to thank Daoyuan Li for his collaboration in the prototype implementation and testing, especially the WiBACK and Sensor applications. We also would like to show our appreciation to Juha Zidbeck, Patrik Salmela, and Sami Ruponen for their comments and support.
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© 2014 Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering
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Bisalbutra, S., Jimeno, E. (2014). Real-Time Communication over Wireless Sensor Network – A Prototype for Disaster Areas. In: Bissyandé, T., van Stam, G. (eds) e-Infrastructure and e-Services for Developing Countries. AFRICOMM 2013. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 135. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08368-1_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08368-1_19
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