Adaptive and cognitive communication architecture for next-generation PPDR systems

Abstract

In the light of the recent natural catastrophes and terrorist activities it has become evident that new architectural approaches are needed for the next generation Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) networks. These architectures should be adaptable to the conditions at the event site, resilient enough to operate under adverse conditions of the emergency. Furthermore, they should enable timely gathering of crucial event data and its delivery to the responder units at the site as well as the command and control centre that are off-site. In this paper, we first examine the state-of-the-art for areas related to communication in PPDR systems, and discuss the open research issues for each topic. Then, we propose a novel architecture that meets the aforementioned requirements which relies on a novel device called Intelligent Cognitive Gateway (ICG). ICG enables flexible use of the spectrum and facilitates data gathering from all lower tier devices and relays this data to the relevant units through the higher tier public or commercial backhaul networks. Finally, we provide some results that justify the need for these devices in emergency scenarios.