WIPER: Leveraging the Cell Phone Network for Emergency Response

TIMOTHY SCHOENHARL, RYAN BRAVO, and GREG MADEY

This paper appears in: The International Journal of INTELLIGENT CONTROL AND SYSTEMS
Publication Date: December 2006
Volume: 11, Number: 4
On page(s): 209- 216

Abstract

This paper describes the Wireless Phone-based Emergency Response (WIPER) system. WIPER is designed to provide emergency planners and responders with an integrated system that will help to detect possible emergencies, as well as to suggest and evaluate possible courses of action to deal with the emergency. The system is designed as a distributed system using web services and the service oriented architecture. Components of the system for detecting and mitigating emergency situations can be added and removed from the system as the need arises. WIPER is designed to evaluate potential plans of action using a series of GIS-enabled Agent-Based simulations that are grounded on realtime data from cell phone network providers. The system relies on the DDDAS concept [3], the interactive use of partial aggregate and detailed realtime data to continuously update the system, which ensures that simulations always present timely and pertinent data. WIPER presents information to users through a web-based interface of several overlaid layers of information, allowing users rich detail and flexibility.

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