The economic impact of telecommunications infrastructure on economic growth is enormous. Studies on the impact of ICT have indicated approximately a third of economic growth can be attributed to telecommunications.
Crisis Management
Satellite Based Alarm System
New tools to warn and inform citizens during natural and man-made crises are being developed around the world to help civil protection authorities manage events and reduce casualties. There are various technologies that can be used to distribute such emergency alerts. Satellite based communication is especially attractive to augment other methods due to its wide geographic reach and its inherent resilience over ground based systems.
Avanti was selected to perform a study to assess the feasibility of implementing a satellite based alarm system on a European scale to complement existing infrastructures. In consultation with European Civil Protection communities, the study developed a set of requirements that a system would have to meet and performed a high level design of potential solutions using existing satellite services including satellite digital radio and insertion of alert messages into the signals broadcast by navigation satellites.
A cost benefit analysis of the possible solutions indicated potential savings of €180m per annum. The study proposed a roadmap for implementing the trialling of services and these are now being taken up in largescale European projects.