MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Paul English Army MARS Program Manager [email protected] 254-947-3141

MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC

Paul EnglishArmy MARS

Program [email protected]

254-947-3141

mailto:[email protected]

2

Army MARS Mission

• Provide contingency HF radio communications to the Department of Defense and Military Services

• Provide international humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to US Combatant Commands

• Provide contingency communications for Defense Support of Civil Authorities

• Provide morale and welfare communications support to DOD.

DOD Instruction 4650.02AR 25-6

Concept of Support

Amateur Radio operators are usually the first on the air following a disaster.

By connecting the Amateur Radio Operator with the MARS operator, MARS can provide a communications link for getting related information to the Combatant Command staff charged with planning a humanitarian relief effort.

Bottom Line: Over the past year, the US Department of Defense and MARS conducted exercises to test the concept for MARS serving as a conduit between Amateur Radio Operators and the US Combatant Commands who are charged with planning, providing or supporting International aide relief to the devastated area.


International Amateur Radio Union Regions with US Combatant Commands areas of responsibility

ITU Region 3ITU Region 1ITU Region 2ITU

Region 3


USNORTHCOM

USSOUTHCOM

USEUCOM

USAFRICOM

USCENTCOM

USPACOM

GAREC Amateur Radio Band PlansEmergency Center of Activity Frequencies

80 Meters

40 Meters

20 Meters

17 Meters

15 Meters

Emergency Center of Activity (ECoA): IARU designated frequency in each region for establishing emergency communications

4 MHZ3.5 MHZ

7.0 MHZ

3.985 R2

14.0 MHZ

7.3 MHZ

14.35 MHZ

18.068 MHZ 18.168 MHZ

21.45 MHZ21.0 MHZ

3.6 R3 3.76 R1

7.11 R1/3 7.24 R2

14.3 R1/2/3

18.16 R1/2/3

21.36 R1/2/3



Disaster EventOccurs



Amateurs in affected areareach out for assistance,

transmit disaster info on IARU designated

emergency frequencies

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Amateurs in surrounding countries connect and gather information

(alert other amateurs, social media, new outlets, etc)




9





MARS members informed of disaster, begin scanning likely ECoA frequencies




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MARS Supporting the IARU/GARECGlobal Disaster Alert and Coordination System

GDACS is a cooperation framework under the United Nations umbrella. It includes disaster managers and disaster information

systems worldwide and aims at filling the information and coordination gap in the first phase after major disasters.

GDACS provides real-time access to web‐based disaster information systems and related coordination tools

http://www.gdacs.org/

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MARS members scanning ECoA frequencies,copy disaster information, process spot

report and send to US Combatant Command




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MARS Supporting the IARU/GARECAll Partners Access Network

https://www.apan.org/

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Staff reviews disaster informationMay request more information be provided, posted to APAN




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Staff reviews disaster informationMay request more information

be provided, request sent to MARS

Location of AmateurCall sign used

Frequency usedSpecific Disaster details

Contact info of local gov officialsTypes of aide needed

Photos:Magnitude of disaster

Potential landing areasCritical infrastructure damage




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MARS member receives info request, makes contact with

amateur in affected area or uses other amateurs to

relay the information request




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MARS member receives info request, makes contact with

amateur in affected area or uses other amateurs to

relay the information request

Responding military forces authorized to communicate directly

with Amateur Radio Operators in the disaster area to

effectively coordinate the response efforts

Situation

On or about 11 Aug 0730 hrs local Kathmandu time (0115 hrs Z), a massive earthquake strikes Nepal causing widespread devastation and outages to utilities including all primary communications.

Nepal Amateur Radio Operators begin sending out calls for assistance on IARU designated Emergency Center of Activity (ECoA) frequencies.

X

MARS Supporting the IARU/GARECExercise Pacific Endeavor-14

Mission

On 11 Aug at 0115 Hrs Z, MARS and CFARS operators begin scanning IARU ECoAs in order to listen for and report on possible disaster situational awareness traffic being sent from Amateur Radio Operators in the affected disaster area.

MARS and CFARS operators will prepare spot reports containing appropriate who, what, where, and when information to be forwarded to the US Combatant Command, US Pacific Command, for their situational awareness.

MARS and CFARS operators will be prepared to scan IARU ECoA frequencies again on 19 Aug at 0115 Hrs Z to listen for potential reports from earthquake aftershocks.


X

X

MARSCFARSIncident Location


Exercise Pacific Endeavor-14

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• Exercise Pacific Endeavor - 13

• Typhoon Phailin: Oct 2013, India

• Typhoon Haiyan: Nov 2013, Philippines

• Balkans Flooding: Spring 2014

• Multinational Exercise Rim of the Pacific: June 2014

MARS Supporting the IARU/GARECOther HADR Operations and Exercises:

Training held on 7, 14, and 17 August60 participants from 6 countries including: Nepal GermanyUS United KingdomAfghanistan Japan

Total volunteer hours: ~150 hrs (including exercise)

Participating StationLocations

Exercise Conditions:

Message Metrics

- Real world power outage in Nepal – station on battery back up and 25 Watts; used PSK 31

- Signal from Nepal reliable only to Afghanistan; intermittent to Germany and west coast US.

- Gateways in Hawaii and Japan didn’t have PSK 31 capability (not a typical MARS mode)

- Propagation challenging throughout exercise; delayedmessage handling in some instances while connection re-established

- Spot Reports submitted 34 minutes and 64 minutes into Exercise; by Army MARS station in Afghanistan

- 5 RFIs sent; 4 responses received due to propagation

- Average response time from posting in APAN, Transmitting RFI, receiving response and posting to APAN was 22 minutes

Reliable CommsMarginal CommsNo comms


Slow Scan Digital Images received 27 August 2013

Images transmitted from Nepal to Afghanistan

Nepal using approximately 50 watts

Afghanistan running approximately 100 watts

Each image took approximately 2-3 minutes to transmit


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• Typhoon Phailin: Oct 2013, India

• Typhoon Haiyan: Nov 2013, Philippines

• Balkans Flooding: Spring 2014

• Multinational Exercise Rim of the Pacific: June 2014

MARS Supporting the IARU/GARECOther HADR Operations and Exercises:

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• Amateur Radio Operators are a world-wide resource

• MARS members, as FCC licensed Amateur Radio operators, can serve as a vital information link between those in need and potential military responding forces following a disaster

• Established IARU/GAREC procedures provide a common set of standards for training

• Information accuracy and validity remains a concern

• Need to include IARU members in future Department of Defense humanitarian exercises.

• Language concerns

MARS Supporting the IARU/GARECTake Aways:


Paul EnglishArmy MARS

Program [email protected]

254-947-3141

Questions

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

MARS Supporting the IARU/GAREC Paul English Army MARS Program Manager [email protected] 254-947-3141