This is the scenario facing the participants of Strong Angel III, a collaborative demonstration of civil and military cooperation and communication capabilities put together by a partnership of private companies, government agencies, humanitarian and relief agencies, and universities. Hosted by San Diego State University and taking place in San Diego August 21-26, Strong Angel III will field test effective means of delivering life-saving humanitarian relief and rapidly deployable communication systems in the wake of major disasters.
"Our major goal is to establish a model of community resilience in the face of adversity," said Eric Rasmussen, M.D., director of Strong Angel III and an adjunct professor in SDSU's College of Sciences. "Strong Angel III will explore how to overcome devastating losses of communications infrastructure during major catastrophes."
Strong Angel III's core operations center is the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department training facility site, located at the former Naval Training Center near downtown San Diego. This site will host the demonstration participants throughout its buildings, grounds and parking lots during the six-day event.
SDSU's Visualization Center, the secondary site of operations, will be the central point for information processing, mapping and incoming visual footage and data from remote cameras at the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Training Facility site and from satellite sites throughout San Diego County.
After an initial setup phase, teams from various organizations will conduct more than 40 pre-defined experiments. The experiments will test and demonstrate the usefulness of various technologies and proven techniques, providing valuable information on which solutions and combinations thereof will be of most benefit to first responders, health officials, defense personnel and others in the event of a major disaster.
As the demonstration progresses, Strong Angel III participants will face additional unannounced challenges and constraints, including technical, social, operational, and environmental problems, that are characteristic of humanitarian operations during major natural disasters. Major sponsors and event participants include Microsoft, Bell Canada, Save the Children, Cisco Systems, Sprint Nextel, Google, the Naval Postgraduate School, the U.S. Department of Defense and CommsFirst.
