The 17th bi-annual Project MESA meeting is to be held between the 13th and 15th January 2009 in Sophia Antipolis, South France. Registration details for the meeting can be found on the the ETSI webpage.
Project MESA is an international standardisation forum for the development of broadband wireless communications for use in incident management and disaster response. It aims to design a self-establishing, self-healing digital mobile broadband network, operating at data rates in excess of 2Mbps, which can be used at "hotspots", such as road accidents, natural disasters and chemical spills. Such broadband networks will enable transmission of real-time video and high-resolution pictures and also broadband internet access for remote incident management and diagnosis of casualties.
MESA is an international partnership between the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and the American Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA); the TIA holds the secretariat for ISO TC 204. The partnership agreement was ratified in Mesa, Arizona in 2001.
The project is initially aimed at the sectors of public safety and disaster response, in particular for use by law enforcement officers, peacekeepers, emergency medical services, fire services, as well as transportation authorities. In relation to transport, the official website says:
“The advent of Project MESA technology will allow transportation engineers to expand upon the concept of ‘Intelligent Transportation Systems’ (ITS) through enhanced command and control. It will improve and enhance their ability to monitor and control transportation problems and at the same time greatly expand their ability to inspect tunnels, bridges and other structures in both the normal operational and disaster assessment mode. It will provide them access to advanced robotics during emergency conditions and provide greater safety and security to the travelling public.”
A core component of the project is that it invites related public service agencies to participate and provide input, in particular on the technology requirements. The HA already holds full “Public Safety Membership”, which enables staff to influence the work of the project by attending meetings and taking part in the voting process.
Further information can be found on www.projectmesa.org, the ITS Radar International MESA Factsheet (April 07) and the MESA Whitepaper. The online FTP Site contains detailed documents, including information from past meetings.
HA recommended to attend. ITS Radar International will monitor the outcome of the meeting
Keywords: Communications, Emergency, Incident, Project, Safety, Standard
