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UNHCR uses Satellites (and Windmills) to Get Food and Assistance Where It's Needed
Humanitarian tragedies such as that the Great Lakes region of Africa are well-known to the general public, who are informed of such disasters via images and footage from journalists and field workers onsite, brought to the rest of the world over high-speed data transmission networks and broadcasting satellites. Nevertheless, the scale of such disasters is often difficult to comprehend. For aid agencies such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, who are charged with feeding and sheltering the large numbers of displaced persons, such situations represent an enormous logistical task as they struggle to get people and aid to where it is needed as quickly as possible. With more than 80 per cent of its 5,000 staff working directly in the field, often in isolated, dangerous and difficult conditions, UNHCR relies heavily on communications systems to co-ordinate its efforts and keep in touch with its workers and those from other agencies.
In 1994, when the tragedy of Rwanda resulted in more than a million desperate people arriving at the small Zairian border town of Goma, UNHCR's established means of communication, HF radio transmission, was overwhelmed. Even the installation of multiple INMARSAT satellite telephone terminals at each UNHCR location was not able to cope with the volume of voice, data and fax communications needed to coordinate the international response to such an unprecedented humanitarian disaster.
In an effort to expand its communications capability, UNHCR turned to a relatively new type of technology, Very Small Aperture Satellite (VSAT) terminals. Although 'small' in name, the 3.7-metre reflector diameter meant that the VSAT satellite dishes were much larger than anything the organization had previously used. But the installation was worth the effort. The VSATs provided UNHCR's offices with eight simultaneous communications channels, where before they had had only one.
UNHCR staff quickly discovered that using VSAT systems required much 'cleaner' electrical power that had hitherto been available, making it necessary for the organization's technicians to become knowledgeable about generators and 'no-break' power supplies. And as the Goma office rapidly expanded to some 70 staff, technicians had to install a PABX in order to provide everyone with easy access to the newly installed communications system. But there remained the problem of how to provide phone and fax capabilities to a neighbouring UNHCR office in Gisengy, Rwanda, a short distance from the Zairean border. The solution proved to be the installation of a UHF Rural Telephone link, another technology new to UNHCR's technical team.
While the implementation of these new systems went a long way towards improving communications with the outside world, the organization also needed to make improvements to its communications capabilities between field staff working in the area. To this end, dozens of VHF repeaters were installed on every accessible - and sometimes not so accessible - vantage point.
According to Alain Crausaz, the leader of the regional UNHCR telecoms team, the most difficult installation involved the placement of a repeater 3,300 metres up the side of the Nyiragongo volcano. Everything, including the cement and the water to mix with it, had to be hand-carried up the side of the mountain. The installation team did, however, discover one unexpected advantage which solved the problem of powering the equipment. The team noticed that convection currents caused by the heat rising from the crater created a constant wind, so they contacted the tech support group in Geneva and asked if it were possible to find wind-driven electrical generators to take advantage of this 'windfall'. The right equipment was eventually located, quite naturally, in Holland, the home of the windmill! This proved to be an elegant and effective solution, because although recent events in the area have prevented any maintenance visits to this site for more than five months, it has remained operational, running on wind and solar-sourced electricity and providing essential communications over an area of about 100 square kilometres.
Is the UNHCR satisfied with the quality of the communications it can provide?' "Not yet", replies Jay Rushby, Head of Telecommunications. "In the last three years my colleagues have connected over 120 of our offices to the organization's e-mail system using the terrestrial airline data network, SITA, as the carrier. We are busy now developing the means to provide similar secure email connectivity to remote offices over wireless paths." UNHCR will also deploy, later this year, a more cost-effective satellite communications system using the INTELSAT DAMA service. This network will enable offices to communicate with one another, and with headquarters in Geneva, through the earth station located at Leuk, Switzerland.
In addition, the organization is planning to trial a vehicle tracking system, using a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) service in conjunction with two-way HF radio. This will enable the automatic tracking of UNHCR vehicles over a large area, ensuring greater security for workers and materials, and more efficient co-ordination of transport resources.
The distribution of clockwork radios that do not require batteries allows the reliable dissemination of mass information to the refugees themselves. At the moment, this is often done with the active support of international broadcasters, who undertake to transmit specially-produced programs. Now UNHCR's Mass Information Unit is looking at the possibility of also broadcasting locally on VHF, using small, portable, low power transmitters. This will enable UNHCR staff and camp leaders to advise their groups about more topical issues such as the times clinics will be held or which water sources to use (or avoid), and to provide other information that will make life a little more bearable for people living in difficult conditions.
UNHCR is also looking to the day when its staff will be able to take advantage of a wide range of new Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite systems (GMPCS) currently under development. In fact, the organization is already using GMPCS technology - in the form of Inmarsat Mini-M satellite phones - for the transmission of both voice and electronic mail. In the near future, telephony over global satellite systems should become even more accessible and affordable. The large scale implementation of GMPCS systems was given international go-ahead at a conference held by the International Telecommunication Union in October 1996, when more than a thousand delegates from the world's telecommunications administrations and private industry agreed on a set of principles and prepared a draft Memorandum of Understanding covering global deployment of these new satellites.
But what makes these systems better for field workers than the systems in place today? Firstly, because GMPCS systems will use large constellations of low- and medium-Earth orbiting satellites to pick up and relay telephone calls to their destination, they have the advantage of being virtually 'disaster proof'. Secondly, even though some systems will normally interact with the local fixed telephone system to shunt their calls around the globe, most can, if necessary, function on their own, using satellite-to-satellite communications or portable gateways to get traffic through. This means that they are, unlike today's cellular phones, suitable for use in areas which have little or no telephone service of their own.
For organizations like UNHCR, which have many staff working out in the field in remote regions, new GMPCS systems could represent a real breakthrough. Field workers will be able to contact one another, the local base camp, and even co-workers in regional offices or back at headquarters, as easily as pushing a button. The speed and quality of calls, whether they be to the next camp five kilometres away, or back to the Geneva office, will be of at least the same high standard as today's best systems. And GMPCS will also support the electronic dispatch and receipt of faxes, messaging including e-mail and two-way paging, Internet access, fax and the transfer of data between computers.
Field workers, as well as having reliable, highly portable communications systems at their disposal, could use laptop computers or electronic personal organizers to quickly consult specific databases, and to update information as often as required. And those organizing the often complex logistics of a large-scale relief effort will be able to be kept informed at all times of changing needs and conditions in the field.
UNHCR's Jay Rushby is quick to point out that GMPCS won't necessarily replace existing systems, however. "For many of our communications needs, radio will remain the technology of choice, because of its ease of use, reliability, and low cost. But for certain applications, these new satellite systems will certainly bring a new dimension to our telecommunications capability, and aid in our international relief efforts."
According to the International Telecommunication Union, GMPCS systems should be available for use by humanitarian agencies very soon. At the moment, there are at least five so-called Big LEO systems in the pipeline, which will offer the full swag of voice, data and fax capabilities, and, in addition, several proposed 'Little LEO' systems, which will be used mostly for messaging, paging and low-speed data transfer. Some of the Little LEOs already have satellites up and operational, and could probably offer global commercial service in a matter of months. Their bigger cousins will take a little longer to get going, with the first systems probably going operational starting in 1998.
Meanwhile, the UNHCR Telecommunications Unit continues to look for new ways of employing telecommunications to improve the organization's operational effectiveness in delivering assistance to refugees and, at same time, the safety of its field staff.
With the need for international aid a constant in a world frequently beset by both natural and man-made disasters, telecommunications technologies will increasingly be one of the key factors that make the difference between success and failure in the struggle to preserve human life.