Page 134 - Unleashing the potenti al of the Internet of Things

3 Unleashing the potential of the Internet of Things

Introduction

Every new information and communication technology (ICT) aims to be helpful and useful for
users. This means that, even during disaster, ICT should aim to provide support for the rescue of
users in dangerous situations. In fact, users sometimes have no time to wait for a rescue team or
external help. In these cases, the only way is for users to act by themselves and try to leave the
disaster area as soon as possible. It is necessary therefore to develop requirements for Internet of
things (IoT) devices, as well as requirements for operation of IoT applications during disaster
despite the normal operation of these applications. In fact, IoT applications usually become
practically useless during a disaster when the imperative aim of IoT users is to be saved. Since the
IoT infrastructure is already widely deployed, its technical resources could be very useful in saving
human lives.

From a practical point of view, it is extremely difficult to develop and successfully implement a
new emergency safety system, due to the complex standardization and certification procedures
required for disaster management. However, it is rather easy to enhance the functionalities of
existing safety systems with enhanced capabilities for support of IoT applications during disaster.
Also, IoT based services could be combined with existing safety systems and be used by the safety
systems during disaster.

It is important to understand that new IoT intelligence systems will never replace the existing tested
and certified safety systems proven over many years; however, new IoT intelligence systems may
support the capability of interaction with existing safety systems. It would still be technically
possible to manage IoT applications from the administration centre of the existing safety systems
during disaster.
It is expected that the interaction of these enhanced IoT applications with existing safety systems
will be useful for rescue procedures during disaster, such as alerting and evacuation.

120 Rec. ITU-T Y.4102/Y.2074 (01/2015)