Resilient Communications for the First Responders at the Field

Rescue operations in both small-scale emergencies and major natural or man-made disasters are very challenging. The first responders are requested to explore unknown and potentially hazardous environments, risking their own well-being in order to save others. New innovative technologies are essential to support the first responders in their tasks, ensuring their safety and the effectiveness of their operations. These technologies, that may include wearable devices, automated vehicles and drones or back-end services require communications in order to operate in full capacity. Available infrastructure often fails in cases of emergency, while some operational environments may not even support them to begin with. Aiming to alleviate this barrier, a resilient, field deployable system, that can support the communication between all the equipment deployed at the field and multiple backhaul networks is presented here. The design of the communications, the hardware solutions that support the design as well as the selected configurations are discussed in detail.