EUROPCOM - An Ultra-WideBand (UWB)-Based Ad Hoc Network for Emergency Applications

The Information Society Technologies (IST) EUROPCOM project designs and develops an Ultra-WideBand (UWB)-based ad hoc network for search and rescue operations in disaster zones, especially indoors. The primary application of the EUROPCOM system is to provide position tracking of rescue personnel within the disaster zone. Currently no such technologies or systems exist, which can provide the envisaged functionality. The paper presents the network architecture that was proposed in the EUROPCOM project. The network architecture defines new physical entities and includes a complete protocol stack - from the physical layer up to the application layer. Each protocol layer was tailor-made to the operational constraints and requirements of the EUROPCOM system. The resulting protocol layers are lightweight, self- adaptive, bandwidth- and energy-efficient.