Restoring communications and information data
The California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Cal-IT2) has teamed up with San Diego-based telecommunications firms to re-link hurricane-affected areas and speed up the process of getting medical aid to the Gulf Coast region. Units are on the ground in Baton Rouge with satellite dishes, mobile base stations and handsets to give out to local responders there to create the communication fabric that's needed as a first step.
Data experts at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) are collaborating with the Red Cross and other rescue organizations to make it easier for persons to locate missing loved ones in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. SDSC is creating a consolidated database of survivors and missing persons -- updated on a daily basis -- from a number of sources, including the Red Cross, CNN, MSNBC, and Times Picayune.
Image processing and computer visualization researchers from the SDSU Visualization Center, the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, and the National Institute of Urban Search and Rescue are composing image data sets to help the Red Cross and others leading the relief and reconstruction efforts.
Livermore National Laboratory employees have also gone to New Orleans to help set up emergency communications and wireless networks. The lab's technology allows high-bandwidth communications including voice, streaming video and data. Its Micropower-Impulse Radar (MIR) technology will also be deployed to assist search and rescue crews in locating hurricane victims. This same technology was deployed in the days following the September 11 attacks in the World Trade Center rubble.
UC Davis has offered telemedicine support to provide long-distance specialty consultations with health care personnel and patients in the disaster region. UC Davis pioneered the use of portable satellite technology for medical consultations in areas where the telecommunications infrastructure is nonexistent or disrupted.