Communications Infrastructure No Match for Katrina

jfourier writes "In this age of cheap commoditized consumer electronics and advanced mobile technology, why can't all the people of a city make contact during an emergency? Cell phone circuits filled up during 9/11 attacks and in the wake of hurricane Katrina very few victims can make contact with their families, despite the fact that they have all those mobile phones. The Red Cross is looking to deploy satellite equipment to restore communications in affected areas." From the article: "Katrina made landfall in Louisiana early this morning with sustained winds of 145 mph, but veered just enough to the east to spare New Orleans a direct blow. Even so, flooding, power outages and heavy damage to structures were reported throughout the region. The Red Cross tomorrow expects to begin deploying a host of systems it will need, including satellite telephones, portable satellite dishes, specially equipped communications trucks, high- and low-band radio systems, and generator-powered wireless computer networks, said Jason Wiltrout, a Red Cross network engineer. "

Ham Radio

[Spetiam]

Do I even need to say it?

Ever since the midwest blackout I've been meaning to get an operator's license... for 2m if nothing else.

Communications Failed!

[geomon]

Beat out messages on drums!

Of course the system failed. The cities have flooded, there is no power in much of the area, and a good number of towers and other infrastructure has been damaged.

The winds reached 140+ miles per hour. The uplands received 5+ inches of rain in 24 hours.

Dumbass question

[Le Marteau]

In this age of cheap commoditized consumer electronics and advanced mobile technology, why can't all the people of a city make contact during an emergency?

That is the dumbest question I have ever seen on Slashdot.

Sure, cell PHONES are cheap, but have you priced the towers and the infrastructure that SUPPORTS the phone? Plus, even though your cell phone has a battery, the batteries at the cellular provider won't last long when the entire frickin' CITY is without power.

One for the "This is an outrage!" crowd...

[jav1231]

WTF do people expect? Millions of people displaced and each having at least one relative and likely several in other parts of the world trying to reach them. This is to be expected. Why should a network outage and phone difficulties be news in such a catastrophy?

That's not surprising...

[artemis67]

I live in Charlotte, NC, and it's often difficult to place a cell phone call during rush hour traffic here. If we had a major disaster, no doubt the same thing would happen to us. The cell phone networks obviously were only designed to support a small fraction of the total number of cell phone users in the area at any given time.

Re:Dumbass question

[Deitheres]

Exactly... mobile phones are not like walkie talkies... they don't connect directly to one another. While these systems are scalable, there is still a limit to the traffic capacity they can handle.

It's like asking why your computer can't run a billion processes simultaneously-- the infrastructure just doesn't support it.

Re:Cellular blimps

[TGK]

While it might be somewhat impracticable to put blimps up over major cities for cell coverage all the time, the use of this technology for emergancies isn't such a bad idea.

Unfortunately, there are really two issues here. First, the ability to communicate during the disater. I'm not sure if we really need to invest too much in the problem of how to make a cell phone call during a hurricane. Evacuation is done for a reason. If you can't be bothered to leave I'm not all to sympathetic if you can't call out either.

That said, when rescue crews start operating in the city following a catastrophe like this, we need to have a working telecommunications infrastructure. Blimps or some other form of airborn system can aid immeasurably in this.

Of course, cell phones are only good as long as their batteries hold out. Still, solar power and a decent sat uplink can temporarily solve the infrastructure problem.

No! Technology has saved lives....

[geddes]

Technology can certainly help us in times of need. The Mayor of New Orleans was able to order an evacuation, through the great telecommunication and media infrastructures that we have, people were able to be warned, which probably saved thousands of lives. I say this, because when natural disasters like this hit third world countries, there are many, many, many more deaths. So our communications infrastructure and other technologies DO HELP. Of course, we have had television and radio and the like for a while, an evacuation and warning like this would have been possible probably even 40 years ago. This catagory of technology would also include things like interstate highways, helicopters, boats, and the like, which help rescue operations get where they are needed. Another development we have that helps is a highly organized and functional government. George Bush can immediately grant disaster funding to these states and the rescue operations get moving. Without government direction and organization, it would take whatever volunteer goodwill organizations that go down there a lot longer to coordinate their efforts, and would be much less effective. It is true that the cell phones stop working when the power is cut to the tower, but the same is true for regular phones. But, the amazing thing is, to restore phone service we can fly a couple satellites, which is a lot easier than waiting for the water to recede and rebuild all the phone lines. So technology is helping in this case as well. A disaster like this does show us how powerful nature is, and that sometimes there is nothing we can do to stop a disaster, but we can do our best to minimize the tragedy.

Re:Yet another reason

[pixelpusher220]

and why I prefer the northeast. 0 serious earthquakes, 0 landslides, 0 hurricanes, 0 tornados (mostly anyway)

There just aren't much of any natural phenomenon that you can't adequately prepare for in advance up there.

Sadly I'm in DC these days...the home of some the most obscene unnatural disasters, our very own House and Senate...ugh

Re:VoIP

[Xygon]

That's assuming that you're IP provider still has active data connections, the wind hasn't knocked over the cables you're relying on, and any number of things. I swear, a lot of you need to go to one RACES meeting and realize what emergency communications is really like. You can't rely on the base infrastructure to be in place below you in an emergency.

Re:Dumbass question

[nairnr]

Here Here! Infrastructure systems are designed for common to peak expected usage. No City or company in there right mind will build roads, or phone systems to handle maximum similtanous usage. Think of it has your morning commute. How come everyone in the city can't just hop on the road and not expect delays? You want to build a 50 lane highway on the off chance everyone has to use it at once?

The scale of the disaster is immense. When you have a city which is 80% under water up to 20' of water, I would think you would lose some critical systems!

We had on time in one of our smaller cities - Lethbridge during Canadian Idol, you couldn't place a phone call cause everyone was trying to phone in and vote for there local boy.(he ended up winning). Now put that on the scale of a wide spread natural disaster. Good luck!

Re:Red Cross runs IT now?

[greythax]

a dry place to sleep is the real need. Which is why bringing in communications equipment is a good idea. The sooner that victims can arange to be somewhere other than a shelter (by calling family, finding out of town shelters, etc.), the sooner you will have an extra bed for someone who doesn't have that option. Maybe now that the power is down, all that broadband-over-power-lines will be down so the ham radio operators can help with the truly urgent info. Well, not to flame, but if you had a child that had just moved into the dorm at UNO, and you didn't know if they were alive or not, your definition of "urgent info" might change a bit. This is not an either/or circumstance, bringing in a satalite phone or 2 is not going to cause the survivors to start keeling over. I am sure if it were the choice between a life and a phone, the red cross would choose the life.

Re:ET: Electric Terrestrial vs Ham Radio

[kb1cvh]

RF isn't a great answer for EVERYONE to chat up with their friends and family.

However, RF - as implimented by Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) and the National Traffic System (NTS) can provide health and welfare traffic ie. I'm alive in 'selter location' with ..... That traffic is secondary to priority and emergency traffic for the served agencies (FEMA, Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc), until the land line and other services are restored.

73 (best regards).

Re:Ham Radio

[MightyMartian]

Let me point out that this is one of those times when battery operated amateur radio provides one of the best ways to get messages in and out of an affected area. In fact, this story at the ARRL has some information on how hams are helping in the recovery effort.

It's too bad that so many will be willing to sacrifice HAM so that some miserable little power company can fill the skies with RF noise just so they can get an Internet feed. Hopefully the odd disaster will remind people that there are better ways to get the Internet, and that HAM operators serve in an invaluable service in times of crisis, and that BPL is nothing more than a shameless money grab.

This is why BPL is a bad idea.

[Anonymous Coward]

During this disaster Amateur radio operators (almost always the first communications up and running) have been of significant assistence.

BPL will make amateur radio effectivly unusable if it is implemented widely.

But but but... I hear you saying... BPL won't be creating interference when the power is down!

What people forget is that amateur radio operators use thier radios between disasters, including practice disaster scenarios.

If BPL becomes widespread then they (we) will be significantly disadvantaged and it will start driving amateurs away from this hobby (this hobby which has so many community benifits).

This can already be seen with the restrictions on antennas (covenants etc) that are becomming more and more common.

If this trend continues we might not be there next time we are needed :-/

Re:A Rather Prescient Article

[MightyMartian]

I'm gonna be blunt, and people can mod it flamebait if they like, but the fact that people live on a flood plain that has sunk because groundwater has been pumped out on a coastline that gets hammered with multiple hurricanes a year, with REALLY BIG F**KING ONES every century or so ought to be a hint that maybe this isn't the best place to have a city. Now maybe before the next near-hit happens, we'll have the technology to build uber-levees and dams, but one has to ask oneself, isn't it cheaper to relocate the city and say "Wow, those bloody Frenchmen were pretty goddamn stupid."

Re:Ham Radio

[BenFranske]

Before someone points out that the power is out so the point is moot let me say that the power is out in this area but these RF communications are going out to receiveing stations where the power is NOT out and where interference would be a problem. Hams are generally supportive of new technologies such as BPL and would no doubt enjoy seeing it work out but the providers need to show a way to do it without creating interference on existing communications channels.

Re:Red Cross runs IT now?

[dougmc]

Maybe now that the power is down, all that broadband-over-power-lines will be down so the ham radio operators can help with the truly urgent info.

Great. Now all the ham operators in New Orleans can talk to each other. But all the other cities in the US, they still have their BPL (because the power is still on), so there's nobody else to talk to, just each other. Local BPL doesn't really affect transmission of HF signals, only the reception.

And of course if you have BPL active in your city 99.9% of the time, making the HF bands useless, how many hams would go to the trouble of obtaining and maintaining HF equipment for that 0.1% of the time it actually works? A rig may work after being in storage for a few years, but the batteries probably won't, and the antenna may or may not.

Fortunately, BPL has not been rolled out universally, so the HF bands are still useful for most. For now.

DE AD5RH

Re:Ham Radio

[Anonym1ty]

When all else fails...


...Amateur Radio!

SMS

[Anonymous Coward]

Instead of trying to retain full voice, wouldn't it be better to just limit none essential mobiles to text? Then the system could survive on far fewer base stations, but retain some communications for all. You can surely get many more text messages through the network than voice.

A Rather Prescient Article-Stupid Humans.

[Anonymous Coward]

Be as blunt as you want, and grab a map while you're at it. Holland is below sea level. Bad place for a country. Some cities in Italy are below sea level. Stupid Italians. How many times have we heard about parts of India getting flooded (usually the poorest parts). Stupid citizens. The fact is that a lot of cities and towns are either below sea level, or in flood plains (Mississippi). While were doing "stupid". How about those places were people live next to a volcano? Or right over a fault line? Stupid humans. Anyone remember "Love Canal"? Stupid humans living on top of that.

--
The "are you a script" word for today is floods.

Re:Dumbass question

[Mike1024]

That is the dumbest question I have ever seen on Slashdot.

I disagree.

We have the power to hold equipment to arbratry standards, and we use that power to ensure safety. For example, power plugs are required to have fuses - not for every day use, but for emergencies. Likewise, we design our medical equipment not to kill patients in the event of an emergency, we put earth bonding straps on cranes to keep people safe if someone accidentally hits the boom into a power line, and so on.

Why don't we expand our arbratry safety standards into the realm of radio telecommunications?

I'm no expert, but in discussions about cell tower cancer risks, one often hears that cell towers don't pump out a gigantic wattage - they just have good design, such as very high gain antennas. Compaines like APC will sell you rack-mounted datacenter UPS systems offering many hundreds of watt-hours of backup power. Backup generators are also commonplace.

If it's possible, why don't we simply say to cell providers "You are required to provide the capacity for 99% of your customers to make one ten-minute call within 3 hours of any major emergency" as a precondition for selling them radio licenses?

Just my $0.02,

Michael

Re:Ham Radio

[bdowd]

Being a Ham radio operator is like being in the US military. You get absolutely no respect from most people... until they can't do without you. "What an antiquated hobby", they say, condescendingly. Sure. It's the only communications modality which works without an infrastructure ... which is exactly the situation in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast right now. -W1DOC

Re:Dumbass question

[Anonymous Coward]

Because the majority of this 99% doesn't actually NEED to make a call. It's just a natural reaction in a panic situation.

Re:Dumbass question

[shibashaba]

Grounds and fuses are put on things because that kind of stuff happens on the regular basis and is very cheap protection. You know of any structures that strech out high into the sky that are hurrican, tornado, earthquake and fire proof? Just how do you expect that to be possible? Theres a far cry from forcing cell phone companies to do something almost impossible and going bankrupt vs a fuse costing a few cents or a ground costing a few dollars.

Before we make cell phone companies make bullet proof towers why don't we make hurrican proof houses? That would save a hell of a lot more lives. Disaster strikes and the first thing you people think about is cell phones?

Grain of salt

[geekoid]

it may have happened, OTOH, in any great disaster strike, many 'fantastic' tales get circulated that turn out to not be true.

How is this modded insightful?

[poofyhairguy82]

This is such an asshole comment. New Orleans was created because 200+ years ago we didn't have roads to get everywhere and the best way to transport goods was to float it down rivers. New Orleans, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, manages the traffic that want to go from the Mississippi River to Ocean- for over 300 years!. There are some of the oldest European landmarks in North American there, and thousands of people in the region help on offshore oil rigs that keeps the U.S.A. afloat. There is a good reason there is a city there.

But not to you, Mr. Asshole. To you, its THEIR fault this happened. Its my grandmothers fault that her house is under water right now (which is why I am so mad at your heartless comment). I mean 40 years ago she COULD have bought it somewhere else, except for the fact that my grandfather's job was in New Orleans and they didn't have the means to live else where. But no, you are right, its her fault.

This shit makes me sooo mad. And to see such cold tripe modded up....sad day...

Cell phone system was a mistake.

[Catbeller]

Back in the late seventies and early eighties, Gerard K. O'Neill, famous for the development of the idea of orbital space habitats, made the rounds of the government and corporate powers to strongly propose the idea of the satellite phone. He wanted to have a profit-making reason to go into space to realize his dreams.

The prototype phone he showed around was about the size of a cellular handset you could buy today.

O'Neill's project never made it out of the gate. Too expensive for a private company to make, and we are all about private companies.

Bill Gates famously put some of his cash into a six billion dollar venture called Iridium which actually still functions. At least, unless they've deorbitted due to budget woes. They went bankrupt, and the US government picked it up for pennies on the dollar. That's one way of getting a cheap satphone system.

America and the rest of the planet went a different route, for purely business reasons. It was more profitable to roll out cellular coverage in stages, as customers could be found to pay the bills. They make fabulous amounts of money.

But as we see today in New Orleans, although cell phones passed the money test, they've utterly failed to support their users. People are dying out there because the cheap, easy-to-build cell towers are powerless and flooded.

Sometimes, and I can't see how much more forcefully a point can be made than an entire region falling out of communication, engineering for critical infrastructure should NOT BE LEFT SOLEY TO THE FREE MARKET.

The military is flying in satphones so that rescuers and cops can finally talk to each other.

Iridium, or a successor should be government subsidized, expanded, and maintained as a national security asset. Screw the cell phone companies. Screw the billionaires. Make a national phone company, like the post office. Let it operate independently, for profit, but chartered to provide service for all, from the satellites in the sky, at subidized prices. Priority for disasters. We need this. It is not an optional extra for civilization.

I know someone who can't rest because a relative was driving north on I-10 and hasn't been heard from in over two days. He should be able to phone. A prison has rioted, and no one can get through to find out what's going on.

If we can spend a trillion- yes, after it is over, a trillion will be spent-- on this war in Iraq, we can spend a few measly billion dollars a year in perpetuity to make sure this infrastructure failure never happpens again.

Libertarians, this one's for you. A lesson in humility and sanity. Government is sometimes the only solution.

Re:Grain of salt

[YrWrstNtmr]

True. But this was a firsthand report, live on the telephone, from the initial ham operator in Tulsa. I'm sure NPR has the transcript. It was today, Aug 30, around 5:30 PM EDT, if you care to look it up.

Re:Grain of salt

[stevew]

You'll find the story up on www.ARRL.org. Is that authentic enough for you?