Mobile Phones to aid People in Disasters

Markku Lauttamus, University of Jyvaskyla

1

Worldwide mobile phone sales 1Q/2009

• 269.1 million units in the first quarter– 8.6 per cent decrease from the first quarter of 2008

• Smartphone sales surpassed 36.4 million units– 12.7 per cent increase from the same period last year

• Smartphone sales represented 13.5 per cent of all mobile device sales in the first quarter– 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2008.

• Much of the Smartphone growth during the first quarter of 2009 was driven by touch screen products

2Source: Gartner newsroom http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=985912

Table 1Worldwide Mobile Terminal Sales to End Users in 1Q09 (Thousands of Units)

ICT growth driven by mobile technologies

3Source: ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database. http://www.itu.int/net/pressoffice/backgrounders/general/pdf/3.pdf

Table 1Worldwide Mobile Terminal Sales to End Users in 1Q09 (Thousands of Units)

Mobile cellular has been the most rapidly adopted technology in history.

Smartphone features today

4Source: Nokia N8 spesification http://www.nokia.co.uk/find-products/all-phones/nokia-n8/specifications

Table 1Worldwide Mobile Terminal Sales to End Users in 1Q09 (Thousands of Units)

• Capacitive touch screen • Orientation sensor (Accelerometer) Compass • GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 • WCDMA 850/900/1700/1900/2100 • Email and messaging Easy-to-use email client with attachment support for images, videos • RSS reader• GPS and navigation Integrated GPS, A-GPS receivers •Full web browsing of real web pages •Supported markup languages: HTML, XHTML MP, WML… • FM Radio FM Transmitter • Chat instant messaging support: Chat, Yahoo, AIM, Windows Live, Gtalk, MySpace*•SMS•camera

Proximity sensor Video playback Video recording Video call Internal memory and external microSD memory card  Software platform & user interface Symbian ^3 for Nokia Java MIDP 2.1 Qt 4.6.2, Web Runtime 7.2 HTML 4.1 Software updates Over the Air (FOTA) & Over the internet (FOTI) Flash Lite 4.0 OMA DM 1.2, OMA Client provisioning 1.1 Personal Information Management (PIM) Calendar Notes Recorder Calculator Clock, music and documents .doc, .xls, .ppt, .pdf, .zip HTML support for email widget for home screen Conversational view for SMS Push email and expanded portal support available through Messaging for Email and Instant Messaging Browsing and internet CSS Supported protocols: HTTP v1.1, WAP TCP/IP support Visual history, HTML and JavaScript support Flash Lite 4 will support a majority of Flash Player 10.1 content Nokia Mobile Search Support for streaming video Maps with free car & pedestrian navigation Wi-Fi Positioning Compass and accelerometer for correct orientation of display Applications Key applications: Calendar, Contacts, music player, internet, messaging, photos, Ovi Store, Maps, Videos, ebTV, Office document editors, Video & photo editor, Mail, Chat, Radio Bluetooth 3.0 HDMI 2mm Charging connector Micro USB connector and charging High-Speed USB 2.0 (micro USB connector) USB On-the-Go 3.5 mm AV connector Data GPRS/EDGE class B, multislot class 33 HSDPA Cat9, maximum speed up to 10.2 Mbps, HSUPA Cat5 2.0 Mbps WLAN IEEE802.11 b/g/n TCP/IP support Capability to serve as data modem Support for MS Outlook synchronization of contacts, calendar and notes

Haiti – Worst Case Scenario

• At home, earthquake strikes, building collapses.• You survive initial quake, but are trapped beneath

collapsed structure, possibly injured• The clock is ticking – 72 hours survival window• You have your mobile phone• You’ll call to emergency telephone number• No answers…

5

Haiti – Survival Timeline

• Limiting Factors:• Your body – no food, water, possible injuries,

shock, dehydration, position, strength, loss of dexterity, etc

• Your mobile – battery state? Signal Strength? Damage to phone? Damages to cellular towers?

• The network – operational? For how long?

6

Charge of BatteryHow often you usually charge your phone (% of users)

Source: Questionare University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, Scope project

% o

f us

ers

How long does a phone work?Standby Time - The amount of time you can leave your fully

charged cellular portable or transportable phone turned on before the phone will completely discharge the batteries.

Talk Time - The length of time you can talk on your portable or transportable cellular phone without recharging the battery.

8Source: Gartner newsroom http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=985912

Table 1Worldwide Mobile Terminal Sales to End Users in 1Q09 (Thousands of Units)

Phone Talk Time Standby Nokia 2330 4 192iPhone 3g 5 288Nokia 6301 3.5 348Blackberry Pearl 4 360HTC Android 7 384Moto v195s 8 420Blackberry 8820 5 528Samsung t819 5 7200

Open questions• How much you need to talk

during a disaster?• How many text messages

need to send?• Do you feel that energy

management profile may improve your connection during disaster?

• What kind of features supports safety and survival in emergencies and how much they eats battery capacity?

How Long Does Cell Network Work?

• If a cell tower has a battery back up (or generator), it may last up to 8 hours after electrical power is lost

• Once towers are down, communications is lost• Evidenced by dramatic drop in SMS, twitter,

phone calls emanating from Haiti in the two days after the quake.

• By 7 days after the quake, 75% of the cell towers were back in operation, but traffic heavy

9

Haiti – simulated Survival Timeline

Hours Since Event

10

End users commentsIt is important I receive alerts and notifications trough mobile alerting system that specifically concern me (% of users)

Source: Questionare University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, Scope project

% o

f us

ers

Other scenarios

• Accidents by location (traffic, chemical fire, flood, hurricane)• Municipal service (water, electricity) • Hikers Lost in Remote Location• Elderly individual at home• Missing Elderly individuals• Severe Weather (transportation)• Pandemics• Riot • public notifications • Security notifications during holiday or business trip abroad

1/21/2010 12

Mobile device is solution for information sharing

YES• opportunity send one to many messages• Opportunity two way communication• Opportunity use social media via mobile devices -> situational

awareness from different sources like Facebook, Twitter, Buzz, Ushahidi

• Many different communication channels (cellular, WLAN, data transfer, sms, voice, pictures, etc.)

• Cell broadcast or tailored security service by service provider?• Public or commercial service?

1/21/2010 13

Before, during

and after disaster

Mobile device is solution for information sharing

YES• opportunity send one to many messages• Opportunity two way communication• Opportunity use social media via mobile devices -> situational

awareness from different sources like Facebook, Twitter, Buzz, Ushahidi

• Many different communication channels (cellular, WLAN, data transfer, sms, voice, pictures, etc.)

• Cell broadcast or tailored security service by service provider?• Public or commercial service?

1/21/2010 14

Mobile device is solution for information sharing

NO• infrastructure condition during disasters• Overloaded networks• Communication language (tourist season)• All information must be intelligibility to users within 160 char

(sms)• Usability of security application if it is downloaded to the device

1/21/2010 15

Client application – connection possibilities

Traditional SMS message (Short message service

Code based SMS message

CB message (Cell broadcast)

MBMS message (Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Services)

Internet based online connection like push email, chat, Twitter, pop-up window application

GSM/3G/LTE WLAN

Internet based online connection like push email, chat, Twitter or iSCOPE

TMC / GPS

Your GPS navigator uses traffic information to minimize traffic delays and may warning you disasters. 

Nokia and Google maps delivers real-time traffic information service. Device can re-route your route to avoid traffic events.

Client application – some customer requirements

Ease of Use (mobile device, application, Information presentation (priorities, categories))Ease of taking into use (ease of personalization: predefined settings)Usefulness (Relevant information: content of notifications, location based notification, the system knows to some extent what you are/ what you might be interested 

Client application – some opportunities…

http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/proj/lpf.php

The goal of the LPF project is to create a Web system that enables family, friends and neighbors to locate missing people during a disaster event.

Smart phone features:• Camera (with face recognition)• Data connection• GPS• Email/SMS/MMS•