AREDN at San Francisco Fleet Week 2019

The San Francisco Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS), a unit of the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management (DEM), recently participated in the 2019 SF Fleet Week Disaster Debris Management and Emergency Route Reopening exercise on Pier 27 in San Francisco. The exercise tested the ability for the City, State, Federal, Defense & Private organizations to coordinate to re-open transportation routes into and out of the city following a major disaster. Agencies involved included SFFD, SFPD, PG&E, US Navy, US ACE, USCG, SFDPW, ACS, et al.

ACS' specific role was to facilitate non-traditional communications paths between served agencies, and act as a force-multiplier for established lines of communications. This included FM Voice message passing, Packet BBS and Winlink message passing, APRS location asset tracking (AVL), and High-speed video over wireless mesh (AREDN). 

AREDN was used to establish a high-speed wireless mesh link between a heavy equipment staging area and the San Francisco Department of Public Works Disaster Operations Center (the 'lead' agency for clean-up). ACS utilized Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) IP networking equipment to establish this link using the AREDN mesh firmware, operating on Amateur Radio 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. This network was established ad-hoc, on site, without any prior planning or coordination.

The estimated Bill Of Materials (BOM) for the equipment utilized to deploy the wireless mesh is approximately ~$300.

Shout-outs to participating ACS Staff:

- Simon Sutherland KK6RVE
- Diana Lum KG6IOH
- James Downs KM6ASJ
- Kiley Davidson KD8DRX
- Desmond Crisis KC6VHG
- Greg Albrecht W2GMD