Abstract
Rapidly deployable and reliable mission-critical communication networks are fundamental requirements to guarantee the successful operations of public safety officers during disaster recovery and crisis management preparedness. The ABSOLUTE project focused on designing, prototyping, and demonstrating a high-capacity IP mobile data network with low latency and large coverage suitable for many forms of multimedia delivery including public safety scenarios. The ABSOLUTE project combines aerial, terrestrial, and satellites communication networks for providing a robust standalone system able to deliver resilience communication systems. This article focuses on describing the main outcomes of the ABSOLUTE project in terms of network and system architecture, regulations, and implementation of aerial base stations, portable land mobile units, satellite backhauling, S-MIM satellite messaging, and multimode user equipments.
Introduction
Terrestrial communication infrastructures can be annihilated or partially damaged during disaster scenarios or temporary events [1]. In such scenarios, the necessity of re-establishing the communication system or deploying temporal infrastructures is a crucial requirement of public safety and disaster relief (PSDR) officers to provision essential services, aid, and reconciliation for communities in affected areas. Therefore, the ABSOLUTE project [2] designed and demonstrated an innovative rapidly deployable network architecture, which is capable of providing broadband multimedia services and dependable connectivity for large areas affected by unexpected disasters or temporary events.
ConclusIons
The ABSOLUTE project designed and demonstrated the high capacity and coverage capabilities of technical solutions adapted to the fi eld of broadband emergency communications in which LTE technology is predominantly adopted. In PSDR scenarios the key solution is to adopt flexible base stations embedded onboard aerial platforms and terrestrial land mobile stations. The ABSOLUTE project also provides a reference implementation for an interoperable and backward-compatible network solution, including relevant regulatory and standardization efforts, which enable quick adoption of 4G communication technologies to remarkably improve disaster recovery and crisis management preparedness. This is based on the ability to operate with existing LTE spectrum by exploiting energy-efficient cognitive mechanisms, which provide agile reconfiguration. Since technical and business cases for ABSOLUTE system exploitation are also been studied for industrial partners, it is expected that the ABSOLUTE system can rapidly be produced and marketed.
