INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN DISASTER

MANAGEMENT

G-MAX IT SERVICESA national e-governance award & ISO

9001:2008, 9001:2015 enterprise

(A case study of installation and commissioning

of wireless local intranet in Kedarnath dham)

1. Uttarakhand Disaster During the flash floods of 16/17 June, 2013 around four thousand

pilgrims/locals lost their life in Kedarnath valley apart from unprecedented damage to property & infrastructure. Quantum of devastation increased many folds because of failure of communication network.

2. Failure of communication All communication network was devastated and the failure of

communication network jeopardized the rescue & subsequent

operations.

BACKGROUND

operations.

3. No record of pilgrims Rescue agencies and administration did not have any record of pilgrims

stranded in the Kedarnath dham and in route.

4. Difficulty in rescue operation Great difficulty was faced in carrying out the rescue operation by

respective authorities due to lack of information. Response time for rescue operation was almost 48 hour (2 days).

KEDARNATH BEFORE DISASTER

KEDARNATH AFTER DISASTER

Reconstruction work was started by the state government

on war footing. There was a need for the following:

Strengthening the communication network along the yatra route.

To provide all weather 24x7 connectivity to district administration,

police, sdrf and various agencies.

Provide various IT enabled services to pilgrims.

To provide video surveillance & live monitoring of all strategic locations

NEED FOR THE PROJECT

To provide video surveillance & live monitoring of all strategic locations

along yatra route.

To enable the government to monitor various on-going reconstruction

work on real time basis.

To have a disaster resilient all weather condition connectivity owned by

district administration independent of any mobile service provider.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

A robust RF based local intranet network was established in an

unimaginable very short duration of time.

Using point to point & point to multi-point wireless hopping techniques in 2.4 Ghz and 5.7 Ghz (evacuated frequencies) from Sonprayag (at an elevation of 4,500 ft) to Kedarnath Shrine (at an elevation of 11,600 ft)

along a foot trek route of 21 Km long in extremely harsh environmental conditions, topography & the fear of the unknown.

In spite of high altitude terrain, sub zero temperatures, heavy snowfall during winters & regular and heavy rains, the network was able to during winters & regular and heavy rains, the network was able to provide services.

Further, the wireless local intranet network is extended covering a stretch of 96 Kms right from district headquarter, Rudraprayag upto Kedarnathtemple covering all the intermediate yatra halting stations/padavs.

The network was able to provide services like:

Free Wi-Fi internet.

Hotline SIP (session initiation protocol) phone communication.

Video conferencing services.

Real time RFID tracking of mules/horses along yatra route.

Public displays screens for live feed of Shri Kedarnath temple and major points on the track.

Deployment of kiosk machines for internet access.

24x7 electronic surveillance of Kedarnath yatra route using high end night vision PTZ cameras.

Two redundant main switching centre (MSC) were created at DHQ, Rudraprayag and Sonprayag.

Network was integrated with SWAN/NIC network which was available in Network was integrated with SWAN/NIC network which was available in DHQ to provide the network access at SEOC, Secretariat Dehradun and any other PoP.

A LOS (line of sight) feasibility study was conducted in WGS84 mode (world geodetic system) to establish a local wireless intranet using unlicensed frequency bands of 2.4 GHz and 5.7 GHz based on PTP (point to point) and PTMP (point to multi point) wireless hopping techniques.

STARTERGY ADOPTED

Installation was done keeping all the guideline of the WPC (wireless planning and coordination) intact. All the civil work like earth excavation, filling up of RCC was done on the guideline of the R&B. The guy’s mast installation was done at 11 points along the yatra route. Earthing of each tower was done to a level of 2Ω. Communication cables were routed in a managed way. A throughput of 700 Mbps (full duplex) was achieved between the hops.

INSTALLATION OF GUY’S MAST AND MICROWAVE RADIO

Roll-out/implementation model

Existing Track

Proposed Sites

Intra Communication

Lincholi

RudraPoint

Kedarnath

Triyuginarayan

BTS

Sonprayag

Gaurikund

Jungle Chatti

Bhimbali

Rampur Top

Triyuginarayan

Sonprayag

Extended Network Connectivity

Existing Track

Proposed Sites

Intra Communication

DHQ

Rudraprayag

DungriBawai

Painj

Judik

FEATURES OF THE PROJECT

24x7 electronic surveillance of critical points thus keeping a strict vigil of

every event happening on the yatra route.

RFID tracking of mules carrying pilgrims along the yatra route.

SIP based hot-line communication.

Video conferencing.

Hotspots and internet kiosk for free internet access.

Public display screens for live view. Public display screens for live view.

Live display of Shri Kedarnath arti by TV-100 on their channel to nation

wide TV audience.

24X7 ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE OF CRITICAL POINTS

IP cameras (PTZ camera with night vision) were installed at all the important points. Network video recorder were placed at Sonprayag (MSC) with mirror backup at DHQ Rudraprayag having a capacity of recording & keeping data backup of all the cameras for 15 days. These high resolution cameras can be remotely rotated from the control room up to 360 degrees, with pan-tilt & zoom features.

SCREEN-SHOTS FROM NVR ON A SUNNY DAY

SCREEN-SHOTS FROM NVR IN NIGHT VISION

MONITORING FROM DEOC RUDRAPRAYAG AND SEOC DEHRADUN

Using this local area network as the backbone for communication, RFID tracking of mules carrying pilgrims along the yatra route, is being carried out by the district administration. Tags has been put on all the mules/horses that are registered by Zila Panchayat before the start of yatra. A computerized prepaid payment facility is being run by the district administration for streamlining the movement of these mules & horses that are used for ferrying the pilgrims along the yatra route.

Mule Tracking Software that has been developed keeps record of every mule/horse ride in the form of registration Id of the hawker, registration

RFID TRACKING OF MULES

mule/horse ride in the form of registration Id of the hawker, registration

no of mule, details of pilgrim on-board with his biometric Id and time of checking in/out from the sensor point installed along the yatra route for live tracking.

RFID tracking of mules/horses (ISO 9001:2008 certified project) carrying the pilgrims (with all their details tagged) along Kedarnath yatra route is very vital & is being strictly followed so that harassment of pilgrims at the hands of hawkers/mule owners & other types of problems encountered earlier can be effectively tackled.

SCREEN-SHOTS OF YATRA

TRANSFERRING OF DATA FROM DIFFERENT POSTS VIA WIRELESS INTRA NETWORK

RUDRA POINT

Central database portal@ Sonprayag

PONY

SONPRAYAGGaurikund

BHIMBALI

LINCHOLI

DIAGRAMATIC REPRESENTATION

5- 6 metres

A hot-line communication setup has been established using SIP Phones. All the major points on yatra track has been provided with the facility for a seamless communication during any type of weather conditions. SIP servers are placed at both the MSC for trunking calls. Disaster management staff sitting at DHQ now has the privilege to call any point on yatra route during any type of weather conditions. All destinations has been provided separate contact numbers for intercom facility. This hotline communication is on full-time basis available to DDMA Rudraprayag and is independent of any mobile/landline service provider.

SIP BASED HOT-LINE COMMUNICATION

A video conferencing system has been established at Shri Kedarnath Dham premises to communicate with NIC, DHQ and SHQ. Monitoring and Live instruction can be given both at District level and at state level to the officials working there.

VIDEO CONFERENCING

District Administration is providing free WIFI based internet access to the pilgrims visiting Shree Kedarnath Dham right from Sonprayag to Shree Kedarnath temple covering all major points like Junglechatti, Bhimbali and Lincholi, Base camp. Administration has also given the facility of free internet Kiosk Desks at Kedarnath, Sonprayag and at Lincholi.

HOTSPOTS AND INTERNET KIOSKS

LCD Screens have been deployed for the public to view live access of all the cameras both at Sonprayag And at Kedarnath.

DEPLOYMENT OF PUBLIC DISPLAY SCREENS

TV100 private news network is also using bandwidth of their communication network for giving live darshan of Kedarnath temple on their channel to nation wide TV audience.

MEDIA PARTNERSHIPS

Various ITES services being offered by low cost RF based links that has low maintenance cost.

Revenue generation potential for future.

The major innovation lies in conduct of detailed physical survey in extremely difficult terrain along 21 km long tortuous valley for right selection of sites to get LOS (line of sight). Using the backbone of one network, many services are being provided to the users.

INNOVATIONS

network, many services are being provided to the users.

The innovative use of low cost RF based LAN with multiple services is a major achievement. The ratio of network stretch to implementation, commissioning & execution of this project is very small.

This network is also integrated with state wide area network and NKN using access permissions for different protocols.

This is the longest network being owned by any DDMA and SDMA in India.

Counters are available at all important locations along yatra route where display screen and sign board are installed for information.

INTERACTIVE PLATFORM FOR SERVICE DELIVERY

1. G2G (Government to Government) Tracking of pilgrims at all strategic locations 24x7 which helps district

administration, SDRF, police, sector officers for effective yatra

management.

Video conferencing service with government/non-government agencies

for reporting of reconstruction work and giving instructions.

SIP based hot-line communication.

RFID tracking of mules along yatra route.

OBJECTIVES ACHIEVED

RFID tracking of mules along yatra route.

2. G2C (Government to Consumer) Free Wi-Fi service to pilgrims.

Network support being offered in a shadow area for e-district services.

Network support to Shri Kedar rescue Android app.

3. G2B (Government to Business) Network service being used by BSNL and TV100 news channel.

REQUEST FROM TV100 FOR LIVE TELECAST OF SHRI KEDARNATH DHAM

REQUEST FROM BSNL FOR 6 MBPS BANDWIDTH

Strengthened the disaster management mitigation & response

apparatus.

Instill confidence in pilgrims regarding the safety of Kedarnath yatra.

3.1 lakh pilgrims visited Kedarnath shrine in 2016 which equals 60% of

pre-disaster foot fall.

Approximately Rs. one crore revenue has been generated in this yatra

season till date through mule prepaid counter facility.

IMPACTS

season till date through mule prepaid counter facility.

TV100 gives live darshan of Kedarnath temple on their channel to a

nation wide TV audience.

Request from BSNL for 6 Mbps bandwidth.

ATM services to be started in the Kedarnath Dham in 2017 with the

help of 1 Mbps Internet bandwidth from DDMA network.

GMVN to install POS machines for pilgrim at various halting points with

the help of internet drop from this network.

Smart phones to be provided to sector officers with SIP calling facility.

FUTURE ROADMAP

Dedicated Wi-Fi internet service on payment basis to shopkeepers and

lodge owners.

Integrating the network with early warning system being planned

under world bank funded projects.

National e-Governance award 2016

THANKS

G-MAX IT SERVICES

www.gmaxconnect.com

Embedding IT into lives…