Research topics
The Research Topics investigated by the members of the World Alliance on Digitalization for Disaster & Emergency Management, span over a broad range of domains in various disciplines. In the following, examples of research topics are given under the following classifications:
-
Disaster and emergency management:
-
1A: Awareness, disaster and emergency detection and monitoring: Aims to detect the effects of disasters efficiently and effectively, such as the damages made, conditions of humans and living creatures, etc.
-
1B: Demand modeling and generation: Based on the observed damages and the environmental conditions, demand lists are automatically inferred for the necessary resources so that aid operations can be executed efficiently and effectively. Demands for resources can be various, including rescue operations, fire fighters, ambulances, security forces, repair teams, shelters, transport vehicles for evacuation, heating and cooking facilities, food and water, etc.
-
1C: Optimization and scheduling : The available resources are optimally assigned to the inferred demands on time. In case of insufficient resources, prioritization, trade-off and/or dynamic selection techniques are applied.
-
1C: Performance measurement: The performance indicators of operations are defined formally so that the desired objectives can be specified and measured. Accordingly, ongoing operations can be monitored online and in case of deviations from the desired performance values, corrective actions can be executed.
-
1D: Tracking and control: This phase includes both monitoring, evaluation and controlling actions of the ongoing activities as well as coordination among the aid operations.
-
1E: Simulation and game playing: To determine the effect of a large set of prospective disaster scenarios, determine the effectiveness and efficiency of the disaster and emergency ecosystem platform, evaluate the necessary quantity of resources and to optimize the locations of logistics centers, simulation environments and techniques must be researched, designed and implemented. Even in times when no disasters are experienced, triggered by the simulated disaster scenarios, the platform must be continuously operational so that it can be optimized using online machine learning techniques.
-
-
Computation: Realization of the disaster and emergency management system is not trivial and requires research in various
computer science disciplines: For example:
-
2A: Communication networks
-
2B: Coordination
-
2C: Digital twins
-
2D: Event-based computation
-
2E: Platforms
-
2F: Software Engineering Aspects
-
-
The role of social capital in disaster preparedness and rescue: Social capital can be defined as the value of the relationships between people who work or live together and the knowledge and skills that they have and share. The research activities on this topic investigate the role of social capital in disaster preparedness and rescue from three perspectives: a) the role of richer social capital in disaster preparedness and rescue; b) coordinate the responsibilities and authorities of governmental and social capital roles in meaningful disaster management scenarios; and c) the methodological policies to increase wealth in social capital from the perspective of disaster management.
-
Economics for disaster prevention and preparedness: These research activities have three important goals: With the use of digitalization techniques, creating economical and industrial infrastructure which can a) withstand major disasters and emergency conditions; b) reorganize and optimize the capabilities in creating new resources and products in minimizing the negative effects; and c) guiding policymakers and practitioners to make smart investments that can strengthen disaster resilience.
1A: Awareness: Disaster and emergency detection and monitoring
We define disaster situation awareness as the ability of the authorities to effectively and efficiently detect the negative effects of disasters so that aid operations can be planned and executed in a timely manner. In general, the objective is twofold: To understand the type and magnitude of the damage caused and to determine the conditions and locations of the persons that need help.
2B: Coordination
Coordination is generally defined as the organization of the different elements of a complex body or activity so as to enable them to work together effectively. Obviously, effective and efficient coordination of aid operations are essential in any disaster and emergency management system.
2D: Event-based computation
Disaster and emergency management systems can be catogorized under control systems. The event-based approach is a natural architectural style for control systems. The components of a control system interact with each other by creating and receiving event notifications, where an event is any occurrence of a state change.
2F: Software engineering aspects
Disaster and emergency management systems are long-living software-intensive systems constrainted with demands for high quality attributes such as security, availability, timeliness and correctneess. Software engineering as a discpline concerns with providing desired software qualities according to the requirements.