ICT-MobileSummit 2009 Conference Proceedings Paul Cunningham and Miriam Cunningham (Eds) IIMC International Information Management Corporation, 2009 ISBN: 978-1-905824-12-0 A Framework supporting Extreme Emergency Services Emmanouil A. Panaousis 1 , Arvind Ramrekha 1 , Konstantinos Birkos 2 , Christos Papageorgiou 2 , Vahid Talooki 3 , George Matthew 3 , Cong Thien Nguyen 4 , Corrine Sieux 4 Christos Politis 1 , Tasos Dagiuklas 2 , Jonathan Rodriguez 3 1 Wireless Multimedia & Networking (WMN) lab, Kingston University, London, UK Tel: +442084172653, Email: {e.panaousis,a.ramrekha,c.politis}@kingston.ac.uk 2 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineer, University of Patras, Patras, Greece Tel: + 302610996466, Email: kmpirkos@ece.upatras.gr, xpapageo@ceid.upatras.gr, ntan@ece.upatras.gr 3 Instituto de Telecomunicações, Aveiro, Portugal Tel: + 351234377904, Email: {vahid,georgematthew,jonathan}@av.it.pt 4 Thales Communications, Colombes, FRANCE Tel: +33141303155, Email: {cong-thien.nguyen, Corinne.SIEUX}@fr.thalesgroup.com Abstract: In many extreme emergency scenarios, such as natural or manmade disasters, the rescuers may face difficulty using traditional legacy networks due to destruction or collapse of infrastructure in such events or in case of remote disaster locations. The nature of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) makes them suitable to be utilized in the context of an emergency for various rescue teams. However, the security and reliability of the mobile ad hoc based communications can be decisive in the effectiveness and efficiency of rescue missions in extreme emergency cases. Furthermore, these stringent requirements propagate through to upper layers that include transport and application layer. In this paper we propose a framework for handling the P2P overlay serves different purposes and combines different technologies. The general functionalities of the framework are structured and unstructured overlays in MANETs. In addition, we propose a new suite of protocols called PEACE 1 Security Platform (PSP) that can address the key research challenges surrounding fast, reliable and secure MANETs for supporting emergency services in extreme catastrophic events. Keywords: Mobile ad hoc networks, IP-based emergency infrastructures 1. Introduction The transition to next generation networks is often coupled with the vision of innovative services providing personalized and customizable services over an all-IP infrastructure. To enable a smooth transition, next generation all-IP networks need not only support more services but also support current vital services, namely emergency services. These include communications solutions to address emergency situations. Such emergency services in cases of natural disasters or catastrophes will often involve the establishment of an ad hoc networking environment. In this context, there is a need for mechanisms for fast and lightweight establishment of trust relations between ad hoc members of an emergency team and ensuring the security of their communication. Furthermore, to enable multimedia 1 The EU-FP7 PEACE project investigates the provisioning of day-to-day emergency communication in next generation all-IP networks. PEACE is a partly funded EU project. For more info visit: http://www.ict- peace.eu/. Copyright © 2009 The authors www.ICT-MobileSummit.eu/2009 Page 1 of 9