Best Emergency Broadband Internet for Disaster Response and Recovery

Tekniam’s new Remote Universal Communication System (RUCS) is a compact and fast deploying emergency wireless network making a crucial impact getting reliable broadband Internet communication where it’s needed most to help save lives.

 

What makes the RUCS truly breakthrough technology is its compact size and weight, speed of deployment, extremely low power requirements, and low cost to purchase and operate compared to anything previously available for disaster emergency communications and recovery.

 

Starting at only 5 lbs. / 2.27 kgs, the RUCS can deliver a 1000 ft radius wireless broadband internet signal from a Distribution Module contact point that can be accessed by 250 users. Despite having minimal power draw, the RUCS Portable Communication Link units can be daisy-chained, sending the signal 3 miles between units, and up to 35 miles in total distance covered.

 

The unique, compact size makes the RUCS easy to transport, maneuver, and deploy, making it ideal for emergency disaster preparedness. Requiring only a few cable connections, the system can be fully operational and supply broadband strength Internet signals within minutes.

 

The RUCS’ small size, light weight, ease of transport, and exceptionally low power draw is a total game changer for rapidly providing emergency broadband wireless internet to communities hit by disasters. Say goodbye to previous technology that usually required a trailer pulled by a truck, a generator, and fuel to achieve a similar result.

 

All that is needed with the RUCS is a power source - which can be anything from a 12 volt car battery, a wall plug, or a small power pack - and an Internet source to transmit, which can be from satellite, fiber, or cellular.

 

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3 Crucial Functions of Disaster Emergency Broadband Internet

 

First responders like firefighters, police, and paramedics need fast, reliable internet connectivity for communication and coordination. Being the first crucial function of an emergency Internet network, providing communications can range from weather alerts to calling for additional equipment or back-up, and can easily be delayed by heavy communication equipment.

 

The flexibility and speed of deployment of a lightweight, easily transportable wireless Internet connection that can be hand carried where it is needed and is operational in minutes can be a pivotal factor where lives are in the balance.

 

An emergency Internet network is not only crucial for first responders, but for those at tent cities and FEMA trailers as well. Put up to support disaster relief personnel or others affected, emergency communications here provide the ability to voice or email connect with friends and loved ones, or to provide a moment of distraction amongst the chaos.

 

 Disaster recovery is the third critical need for emergency Internet that can even be implemented longer term. With the Internet being a central part of many businesses today, a natural disaster that takes out a network can also take out paychecks. When networks go down so do credit card payments, business-to-customer communications, access to cloud data, and more until connections are restored. By having an emergency Internet network, businesses can utilize the network following the initial emergency response and get back on their feet and fully functioning again to prevent major business interruptions.

 

When a disaster strikes, time matters. The speed of deployment of an essential service is crucial in determining the level of impact it has in an emergency situation, and when it comes to emergency Internet, the faster it is accessible, the better. First responders can initially utilize the RUCS for rapid and secure communications, relief personnel can remain connected with family, and lastly businesses can get back up and running before Internet is even restored.

 

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Disasters Take Many Forms

 

When most people first think of disasters, what usually comes to mind are natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, or fires.

 

Hurricanes can wipe out telecommunications across broad swatches of coastline. Loss of power and flooding can severely impact communication infrastructure such as microwave towers, fiber optic networks, satellite links, and routers that can take days, weeks, or months to rebuild.  First responders like fire, police, and paramedics never really know what their communication capabilities will be once they are in the field during such fast-changing conditions.

 

Maintaining reliable emergency communication during a disaster is made further difficult due to human nature. After a crisis, people want to communicate with their friends and loved ones, or receive information about the situation they just endured - all of which involve utilizing communication channels. These channels can become overloaded, diminishing network strength and limiting capabilities. 

 

With this decrease in signal strength, many people are simply cut off from being able to use their usual communication devices – including first responders. This is another reason why redundancy for such an essential service as broadband Internet is critical in an emergency because existing communication channels are frequently overwhelmed by users - even when they are not physically damaged by the disaster itself.

 

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Not all Disasters are Natural Disasters

 

Man-made disasters, like Russians firing missiles to knock out the Ukrainian power infrastructure, has made the ability to maintain a reliable and fully functioning Internet connection with minimal power draw a matter of life and death in war zones.

 

When General David Grange, a legendary special forces leader, recently went to Ukraine on a humanitarian mission working with Doctors Without Borders, he thought he would need to look at documentation or do a run through with a technical engineer to get Tekniam’s RUCS device operational. “I didn’t need to look at anything! It’s so easy to set up. I just plugged it in and it started working!”

 

Whether the disaster is a natural disaster or caused by equipment failures, power outages or man-made cyber or conventional military attacks, wireless communication is the medium of choice for reestablishing broadband Internet quickly in disaster situations because it’s lightweight and easily deployable.

 

Having a simple-to-operate back-up wireless solution can make a huge difference in an emergency when every second counts.

 

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Redundancy is Key for any Essential Service

 

How will you access the Internet if all normal communications are down? Disaster preparedness communications requires adding additional layers of bandwidth capability to your existing network.

 

Any Disaster Recovery Plan, or DRP, must include communication redundancy to cover essential services when existing telecommunications are down or overloaded.

 

The RUCS can be used with satellite communication in disaster management by establishing a hot-spot that receives a satellite signal known as “Backhaul” where the Internet enters the network.  All that is required is a clear line of sight and ability to precisely direct the dish. The necessary components can be easily hand carried to locations and can be solar powered rather than being operated by heavy gas driven generators.

 

Having as many types of redundancy as possible on hand for emergency communication in disaster management - both voice and Internet to cover every possible situation - is critical because no single technology is guaranteed to work in every situation.

 

What can make the RUCS / Satellite hot-spot a highly effective solution for wireless emergency Internet is that many terrestrial based Internet providers share the same infrastructure. When there is a problem with one provider in a specific area hit by a disaster, it will often impact many other providers as well.

 

Satellite communication in disaster management bypasses local problems like flooding and downed transmitter towers. For the most part, it also bypasses the local congestion during an emergency when people pick up their phones to contact loved ones or get information because the satellite signal is not as locally based as landlines. 

 

However, satellite-based communication systems can be affected by weather. Pre-planning and pre-staging of any disaster emergency communication equipment helps prepare you to connect as many users as possible quickly when needed.

 

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Business Recovery

 

While the disaster is usually what gets the immediate headlines, what follows an emergency over the next few weeks and months can be even more devastating financially, and far longer lasting than the disaster’s immediate impact.

 

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 40% of businesses do not reopen after a disaster and another 25% fail within one year.  Similar statistics from the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) indicate that over 90% of small businesses fail within two years after being struck by a major disaster.

 

As companies have been transferring over to cloud-based applications, it has led to even greater reliance upon the Internet being the essential business connection.

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Most businesses today, whether it’s a hotel that relies upon Internet bookings and WIFI for their guests or a broadband connection to receive and approve credit card payments, are heavily dependent upon the Internet to function.

 

Too often, communities and businesses without an effective Disaster Recovery Plan for a speedy return to normal IT operations never recover.  An IT Disaster Recovery Plan is defined as an organization’s method of circumventing or minimizing data loss and business disruptions resulting from catastrophic events.

 

Back-up is the backbone of any Disaster Recovery Plan. However, an effective IT Disaster Recovery Plan is much more than simply downloading and retrieving documents from the cloud. It includes network redundancy to be certain you have the bandwidth to download.

 

Determine what needs to be backed-up, who should perform the back-ups, and how they should be executed. And perhaps most importantly, with what broadband network equipment if normal communications are down?

 

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Don’t Wait Until Disaster Strikes!

 

Tekniam’s RUCS is the cutting-edge solution for emergency Internet disaster response and business recovery in a compact, 5 lbs. / 2.27 kgs box. With a Distribution Module that sends the signal out to users that’s the size of a medium pizza box, the RUCS provides an Internet solution that is compact and easy to move where you need it most.

 

This breakthrough technology has performed flawlessly through hurricanes at a fraction of the price of comparable options many times this size and price. Unlike other solutions to date that usually require trailers, generators, and vehicle access, RUCS can be easily hand carried to a location where it is needed and set up in minutes with minimum power requirements, making it ideal for disaster preparedness communication.

 

Best of all, the RUCS is not only breakthrough technology on a performance level, but is breakthrough on a price basis as well.  No other emergency Internet solution comes close to the RUCS in terms of low price and cost of operation.

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Easily scalable, Tekniam also makes it possible for an emergency wireless network to be set up by their company’s experienced crew and used on a temporary basis when a community or company needs the capability. In this way, customers never pay for more than what is needed, which can be one of the more difficult and challenging parts of managing telecommunication costs on an emergency basis.

 

Whether your community or company requires the purchase of equipment to have permanently on hand when disaster strikes, or chooses to rely upon Tekniam’s emergency response team to set up a network for you on a temporary basis, the RUCS provides the most cost-effective solution for building critical redundancy of emergency wireless networks that saves lives and livelihoods when normal communications fail.