Sounding the red alert efficiently

A team of Bangalore based engineers have developed a model to disseminate information about impending calamities to the public using the internet and mobile phones.

MICHAEL PATRAO
DHNS

Necessity is the mother of invention. Post-tsunami the necessity for an early warning alert system became apparent. In Bangalore, a team of software engineers — Pradeep Soundara Rajan, Nandan Pujar and Janakiraman Ganesh — started working on an Emergency Warning Alert System (EWACS) within a week of the tsunami tragedy on December 26 and within 15 days had a working demo.
“Our system can save a lot of lives and can act as a catalyst for evacuating people to safer places”, says Pradeep.

The system makes use of the internet, a popular communication channel, which is not only connected to computers worldwide but also to other hand-held devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and palmtops and can reach out to people through popular services such as SMS, MMS and e-mail.

Early warning systems typically track changes in land and sea through transducers. A network of such devices send their readings to a satellite, which then downlinks these signals to a ground station. The ground station receives and processes the information. Personnel at the ground site inform TV and radio channels to communicate this message and warn people if any danger is expected. Such a system is already installed along the Japanese coast and has been used effectively to save people’s life.

Warnings by SMS
In the proposed EWACS system, besides radio and TV channels, channels like mobile phones which have a very high user reach are to be used. EWACS can use SMS service in local languages thus benefiting all classes of people. This system uses loudspeakers for issuing warnings in local languages in public places like beaches.

Disaster tracking systems for tsunami, cyclone, floods and volcanoes already exist. At the downlink station the PC application (EWACS) is installed. The application works in tandem with the satellite tracker application that continuously monitors the satellites, collects and processes the information received from them. If automatic invoking is not suitable then the responsible personnel can invoke the EWACS application manually after verifying the information.

Levels of priority
The EWACS application requires members of the public to register for this intimation service by providing their mail-id and mobile phone numbers which are stored in a database of the downlink station. The system can be designed in such a way that it intimates people on a priority basis.

Thus, government agencies are intimated first so that they can prepare themselves for the calamity and take measures to evacuate people from the danger zone. Next it can intimate all the people within the proximity of the danger zone. If necessary the information can be relayed to all subscribers of mail and SMS facilities.

For fishermen at sea, this project can extend the mobile warning network on the sea with investment in a low cost but effective tower which can broadcast mobile signals to a particular range into the sea area. The EWACS application has been demonstrated and can be used effectively to percolate information to the masses in case of tsunamis and can be incorporated with existing alert systems to encompass such calamities as volcanic eruptions, storms, cyclones, flood, tidal waves, fire outbreaks in in cities, explosions, entrapments, earthquakes and technological disasters like poisonous gas leaks and industrial accidents. People working offshore can be sent SMS to evacuate to safe zones.

The team’s project has been appreciated by ISRO-ISAC Director, Dr P S Goel. The team has had discussions with Dr Manikiam, Deputy Director, Disaster Management Support, ISRO. They also had discussions with Dr V S Ramamurthy, Secretary, Directorate of Science and Technology, who has shown interest in the project.

They can be contacted at pradeep.srajan@gmail.com (9845176817).