GNSS-based M2M Early Warning System for the improved reach of information

A large-scale disaster may damage ground communication infrastructure, interfering with the delivery of disaster information. In such cases, satellites will remain unaffected by damage and can be used as a means of providing information. The augmentation signal of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) can be received using a GNSS receiver, such as that used in cellular mobile phones, which are far more widely used than satellite mobile phones. Research on receiving information with the augmentation signal via a mobile phone is being conducted; however, a method of delivering disaster information to people who do not have a mobile phone requires attention. The purpose of the present research is to develop a system that delivers disaster information via a GNSS to people who do not have a GNSS receiver. To realize this, we aim to design the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Early Warning System. In our system, various machines of public infrastructure receive information from a GNSS and deliver it immediately. As a first step, we consider the use of public vehicles such as busses and garbage tracks. There are areas where residents cannot hear a message broadcast from distant loudspeakers in disaster administration wireless communication. To deliver disaster information to these areas, public vehicles can receive information from the GNSS and deliver it audibly through speakers attached to the vehicles. Buses in a city would be an ideal means of delivering information employing our system. Through simulation using a geographic information system, we evaluate the area and time zone that information broadcast by public buses will reach. An M2M system is then constructed and tested in the coast area in suburbs of Tokyo, where many buses travel. The loudspeakers automatically broadcast tsunami information received from the Japanese Quasi Zenith Satellite System. The information reaches remote areas where fixed loudspeakers cannot be heard.