Two recent blogs, one by Phil Windley [1] and the other by W. David Stephenson [2] comment on the possibilities for utilizing ad-hoc networks (and CUWiN, in particular) for responding to situations like Hurricane Katrina.

Interestingly enough, over two years ago (back in 2003) CUWiN partnered with a local hospital to put in a grant application to the Federal Government to build this exact type of ad-hoc networking system. CUWiN would have made it all open source and freely available to anyone in need -- unfortunately the idea was not funded. In a nutshell, mobile wireless CUWiN nodes (run on batteries -- current solid-state CUWiN nodes run on anywhere from 2-14 watts of electricity depending on the hardware) would be deployed in key locations to form a mesh infrastructure; and wireless-equiped Palm Pilots would be used to virally update first responders with needed information in rapidly changing disaster recovery situations.

It took me some time to track down the original notes (in all of their chickenscratch grandeur); but here it is:

Read more... [3]

Summary:

Wireless technologies can provide a solution to one problem we have identified, which is how can we provide up-to-the minute education to healthcare providers when and where they need it in the event of an emergency. Wireless technology, as it exists now, is best used in small geographic areas. It could therefore be used within POD hospitals, and with the mobile clinic to establish a wireless information area within the field.

We will explore the following concept:

1.Wireless nodes will be established in “critical areas” within each of the POD hospitals. Critical areas are those areas to which medical personnel would report in the event of an emergency. In the event of an emergency, the nodes would provide automatic access to appropriate in-the-minute educational modules, which would be updated as the event progressed.

2.Wireless hubs will be set up for the mobile clinic, which could then be deployed to create a wireless “cloud” in the field of operation in the emergency response.

3.Selected physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers will be supplied with PDAs. When they report to the “critical area”, their PDA will be programmed to automatically seek the wireless node and download the most recent information (Question: Could the information be personalized—i.e. could physicians get one set of information, while nurses get another?).

4.We will explore the possibility that once a provider has checked in to a critical area, then goes out into the field, the PDA could establish a “peer-to-peer” network to update other provider’s information.

It was a good idea then; it's a good idea now. CUWiN knows a lot more today about mesh technologies and architectures than we did two years ago -- and yet we still haven't found anyone interested in developing this sort of low-cost, easy to implement, ad-hoc mesh networking system for deployment in critical areas.