KELOWNA – The primary need when disaster happens anywhere is communication. Help can’t be co-ordinated or properly delivered if people can’t talk to each other.
And if the phone lines are down and police radios out of commission, aid workers will certainly struggle.
It was this primary challenge Telus had in mind when it built two SatCOLT units (Cost: $1.3 million each). SatCOLT stands for Satellite Cellsite on Light Truck and was pioneered Stateside by Sprint and is essentially a fully mobile telephone system.
“It’s a mobile cell site on wheels,” says Ken Green, the man in charge of the one based in Vancouver. Officially his title is senior manager, emergency response mission critical systems and prior to this he spent 34 years with the RCMP, most recently heading up disaster site management.
The truck, on display in Kelowna this week at the CommTech Trade Show works on Telus’ combination cell/two way radio “Mike” system.
With a satellite dish on the roof alongside a 70-foot cell mast, the truck can arrive anywhere, park and be an instant network. “It can be taken to any disaster site in the country,” said Green.
On board are 1,000 ruggedized Mike phones that are all GPS enabled, so they can be tracked at all times. Those are handed out to police and fire officials or residents who just want to call and let people know where they are and that they’re all right.
“We will deploy these anywhere in Canada so that people will have communications,” added Green.
The truck was used in 2007 in Port Renfrew after a severe windstorm knocked out power and communications. One resident used the Telus Mike phone to order Bell ExpressVu pay-per-view, but each person deals with disaster in their own way, one supposes.
“We create the network bubble – not on CDMA or the regular digital, but Mike only,” added Green.
The truck also contains a unit where emergency officials can route through their different radio systems and talk to each other. “It has interoperability and fills the gap that existed where the RCMP couldn’t talk to the military or couldn’t talk to local police. It was a huge gap,” explained Green.
It also boasts a video conferencing unit, a web cam which is perched on the cell mast that can be accessed from any PC that can zoom in “on a pack of cigarettes from a kilometre away,” said Green. The truck also packs 1000 litres of fuel and has a 15 KW generator.
An additional support vehicle carries large ranger tents, tables, food, printers, sleeping bags and other gear.
More recently, the SatCOLT truck has been used in Saskatchewan during training for soldiers going to Afghanistan and in a simulation of a chemical attack in Vancouver Harbour. The truck stays in Kelowna during the summer forest fire season.
– Greg O’Brien
