UNDRO/CNES experiments in the use of an Argos transmitter in disaster relief operations

Design features, coding techniques, and field test results with an Argos portable transmitter as a disaster area communications station for the United Nations Disaster Relief Office (UNDRO) are summarized. The device weighs 8 kg, is powered by six 4.5 V batteries, has a keyboard with 10 numeric and six control keys and a 256 bit message length. It is carried in an aluminum suitcase. Messages, once entered, are broadcast once every 55 sec until one of two NOAA satellites passes overhead, receives the message, imprints it with a nearest equator-crossing time stamp, and relays it when passing over a NOAA ground station. Codes have been devised for personal and structural damage, relief requirements, and location coordinates. A total of 13 field transmissions were broadcast from Jakharta, New York, and Washington, D.C., and 11 were successfully received at the NOAA station. The success rate was sufficient to have encouraged further field tests and efforts to upgrade the system to be more user friendly.