Black Sky Emergency

Communication & Coordination System

TM

BSX - National-scale emergency communication for restoration support and saving and sustaining lives in long duration, Black Sky scenarios.BSX is configured as an interoperable, widely deployed, communication path-flexible and EMP-protected system, capable of operating for weeks with no external power. It is designed to interconnect all critical utility, government, corporate and NGO stakeholders, with embedded situational awareness and decision support addressing the full spectrum of users.

TM

Black Sky Emergency Communication and Coordination System

(BSX™

)

In a “Black Sky,” long duration, subcontinent-scale blackout, quickly restoring critical societal infrastructures, saving and sustaining lives and making progress toward national recovery will be vital for the continuity and future of the United States. But given the extraordinary disruption associated with such scenarios, restoration will only be possible with comprehensive advance planning. Strategically deployed resilience investment and thoroughly coordinated and tested resilience plans and tools, developed for these scenarios, will be essential.

Emergency Communication: The foundation for restoraton and response

In such severe crises, commercial telecommunications networks will fail, precisely when communication will be crucial. Existing emergency backup communications systems, for those public and private organizations that have them, will be at increasing risk in long duration outages. Resilience investments, plans and tools will be effective only if utility teams, emergency managers, mass care NGOs and their essential public and private sector partners have access to an interoperable emergency communication system that is specifically designed to operate in such scenarios, and to interconnect the many utilities, government agencies, NGOs, suppliers of food, pharmaceuticals, health care, fuel and critical consumables and other corporations and stakeholders that will play crucial roles in restoration, and in saving and sustaining lives.

Black Sky Coordination: The need for situational awareness and decision support

In extreme Black Sky conditions, restoration support and emergency response, across a disrupted zone that may be subcontinental in scale, will be very complex. Prioritizing these efforts while simultaneously working to resolve infrastructure interdependency issues will greatly compound this complexity. To resolve this dilemma, a Black Sky-compatible emergency communication system will need to be smoothly integrated into a situational awareness and decision support system that can provide the information and guidance that managers and users will need to respond effectively.

BSX System RequirementsAn emergency communication and coordination system that can meet the needs of highly disrupted environments must be designed with a resilient, flexible “self-healing” system architecture, that can operate without the use of commercial communications networks, satellites, the GPS system or related assets. And given the many critical stakeholders that will need to be included, the system must utilize nodes inexpensive enough to be deployed broadly and across multiple sectors, with hardware elements hardened against the full set of Black Sky hazards, and designed for at least a month of operation with no external power source. These requirements form the basis for the BSX system architecture, summarized briefly in this report.

BSXTM

Architecture

BSX, designed by the same team that developed the U.S. Army's mobile tactical communication and C2 system, includes both emergency communication and coordination configured as fully integrated elements embedded in a common, overall system architecture. This allows for real time communication rerouting to respond to changing information and coordination needs, or the loss of system nodes. It also provides a well-defined communication network that hosts the user interfaces required for situational awareness and decision support. The baseline architecture uses existing, mature technology to ensure system nodes are highly affordable, with compatibility for future, phased expansion.

Communication With existing land-line communication systems no longer functioning and cell towers down, BSX is designed to provide its own adaptable communication network. The system will use a combination of HF and UHF radios, interconnected among sites across the United States by use of an “intelligent director” and routing system that provides for path diversity and overall system flexibility. The system does not utilize satellite assets, and does not require GPS data.

BSX will be self-powered, with most system nodes using a combination of roof-mounted solar cells and a vanadium redox flow battery module, to allow for indefinite charged storage (years) with no degradation, capable of sustaining communications for the long durations expected for Black Sky hazards. For special purposes, a small number of very high capability system nodes will also utilize carefully managed and maintained diesel generators, designed for long duration, continuous operation, with onsite diesel fuel storage for 30 days of operation.

CoordinationWith conventional internet, telecommunications and other systems all disrupted over large regions, support for power restoration, emergency response and sustained delivery of essential goods and services requires a sophisticated and fully developed coordination system.

Such a system must, in essence, operate as a "societal backup network," hosting the many dimensions of information exchange crucial to enable restoration and response, and preserve the critical backbone of commerce that will be imperative for societal continuity. It must replace the most critical functions of telephone / email / internet / e-banking networks that, under normal conditions, coordinate and enable the production, storage, distribution and marketing of all the products and services that keep our society and economy going, and sustain our lives.

To serve this purpose, BSX is designed to provide for situational awareness and decision support capabilities that will ultimately address each of the critical lifeline infrastructures and other sectors providing indispensable goods and services, as well as their government and NGO partners. BSX supports this by utilizing data from remote, automated sensors embedded in critical utilities or commercial systems (where available and operable in Black Sky scenarios); from direct user status reporting; and from "data mining" enabled by accessing all BSX nodes and, as restoration proceeds, other available networks.

The system architecture is designed to provide these capabilities for public and private sector entities and corporations that can support vital restoration, emergency response and life-support operations.

Artist's concept of the BSX voice and data communications solution, showing an emergency operation in progress. The emergency has disabled power, internet, and satellite functions. The Intelligent Director monitors available channels, and determines that UHF may be used to communicate with a field operator 20 miles away, while HF NVIS is the best choice for a utility vehicle which is 200 miles away.

Operational Capability BSX is designed to accommodate a range of Black Sky operational needs, and associated system node sizes and capabilities. All nodes provide communication and coordination connectivity with all others across the country, with each capable of relaying and rerouting voice or data calls for maximum communication path resilience. The system is also designed to have the flexibility required for interoperability with other emergency networks or infrastructure communication assets that may be available to utilities, government agencies or other stakeholders.

As a separate option, potential availability of a substantial number of compatible, surplus military radios represents another approach that could accelerate deployment of a baseline BSX network.

• Moderate size, baseline nodes

With provisions for more than 100,000 nodes across the United States, the backbone of the system will be moderately sized, non-mobile nodes.

• Large facility nodes, with local onsite cellphone support

Larger scale critical facilities may be configured for higher power, longer duration battery module storage. Such nodes could also be expanded to include a local cell phone base station and charging stations for onsite use. Establishing local cell phone-capable sites at large concentrated facilities, such as electricity generation stations or water treatment facilities would promote accelerated restoration and sustained operation, enabling the local but complex flows of information needed to restart and operate such facilities.

• Mobile nodes

Mobile, truck-based and potentially air-based elements are also envisioned, with power provided by the vehicle, potentially supplemented, for ground vehicles, by on-board or towed BSX battery-based power storage.

• BSX Main Control Center Nodes: International, National and State

Even with a fully deployed BSX system, along with associated utilization protocols and training by all the interdependent sectors, the unprecedented complexity of an actual Black Sky emergency will call for urgent real-time management. Main control centers utilizing sophisticated, user-friendly technology will be essential. These high-capability nodes will greatly leverage the efforts of the women and men who will manage the manifold dimensions of developing crises.

Looking Further Ahead:

Future Breakout Options

BSXTM Phased DevelopmentLike other new, broadly distributed systems, development of BSX is planned as a phased process. BSX Phase I (BSX I) is planned as an initial, low cost, locally-deployed system, using basic software to demonstrate system utility and provide an immediate, entry-level operational capability. BSX II is anticipated to be the first fully operational deployment, and future BSX phases are expected to increase deployment, build-out coordination software capabilities and provide opportunities for expanding the system's basing to include new, "breakout" options.

• Electric Vehicles as a Robust, Future Resilience Breakout Option

Communication path flexitibility is an essential element of the BSX design, providing a resilience and "fallback" capability that will be essential for highly disrupted environments. This built-in flexibility can lend itself to a future "breakout option" that could dramatically enhance the resilience and capability of BSX.

Inclusion of small, low capability UHF radio modules in future electric vehicle models would allow for use of America's growing fleet of such vehicles as "peer-to-peer" communication devices. Private vehicles with such modules would allow for flexible routing of BSX signals from car to car across cities and highways, becoming a "mesh network" that could vastly expand the capability of this emergency communication network. And with tens of thousands of such vehicle-borne nodes across the nation, and the potential for eventual solar-power vehicle recharging (at least to the minimal level required for radio operation), this could make such a future network nearly invulnerable to almost any conceivable hazard.

This breakout option would tie participating vehicles into a powerful, resilient communication network, with a wide array of potential uses, personal and public. For example, such communications could allow BSX system operators to send emergency messages to appropriately equipped vehicles in different regions, perhaps requesting that drivers bring their vehicle to a hospital or other critical facility to donate a portion of their on-board power in return for emergency provisions.

Vehicle-based mesh network | Small BSX modules in private electric vehicles could become a "mesh network," providing robust, highly resilient backup routing paths, while also enabling emergency communication and coordination with vehicle owners.

Given projections of the future scale of America’s electric vehicle fleet, this option represents a capability that could become critical in sustaining lives through future, national-scale infrastructure emergencies.

• Airborne Nodes

Given the inherent design flexibility of BSX architecture, a range of other node-basing and coordination capabilities are anticipated as additional, future breakout options.

For example, to both extend the system's range and quickly establish broad, regional connectivity, airborne nodes could be based on conventional aircraft, drones or stratosphere-based solar-powered balloon nodes. Similar to Google's Project Loon, stratospheric balloon nodes could enhance the system's coverage and resilience, and automated launchers for such nodes could provide for quicker wide-area system access following a Black Sky event. All of these airborne basing modes have been previously demonstrated, in field testing on a variety of different programs.

Photo from the launch event of the Google Loon Project on June 13, 2013 (Image credit: flickr/The West Studio).

• Hosting Multiple Subnets, and Interoperability with Other Deployed Systems

The basic BSX architecture is configured to be compatible with development of subnets for specific public or private entities, with controlled, defined communication protocols between such subnets. The system also has the potential for interoperability with other deployed systems, when available and desired. For example, if requested, BSX could be configured for controlled interoperability with existing National Guard or other military communication assets, if available in Black Sky scenarios. In some cases, if desired, existing, deployed systems could explore other possible synergies, such as use of BSX power modules to extend duration of operation for otherwise compatible systems in extended, Black Sky power outages.

BSX architecture is designed to support multiple subnets for utilities, government agencies, mass care NGOs, corporations and other essential entities, and to be interoperable with other deployed networks, if desired (e.g., National Guard, government, ...). Subnets, illustrated above, could utilitze either BSX or alternative node configurations.

Emergency ManagementAgency and NGO

Subnets

Corporate Subnets

Military Subnets

HospitalSubnets

FederalSubnets

Utility Subnets

BSX BaselineNetwork

• Hosting an Emergency Financial Accounting System

With severe disruption of normal monetary institutions and networks, a backup financial strategy will be essential to allow for continuity of the critical backbone of commerce needed to support utility restoration, and to save and sustain lives. As corporations, banking institutions and government stakeholders consider emergency credit liquidity concepts and other approaches to develop an emergency monetary system, very broad multi-sector communication connectivity and coordination support, such as that envisioned for BSX, will be essential.

C O U N C I LIS