How Did the Internet Fair During 911

1
How Did the Internet Fair During 9-11?

• Randy H. Katz
• University of California, Berkeley
• Post 9-11 Panel Session
• Networking 2002
• Pisa, Italy

2
Observations

• No single points of failure, correlated failure
  modes a problem
• Baltimore Tunnel Fire
• Ohio train derailment
• Communications Infrastructures
• Telephone networks (including cellular systems)
• Tactical radio networks
• Data networks
•  Internet did well during 9-11
• Small effect on operation
• Some close calls 60 Hudson Street
• Backup power for 48 hours, came within hours of
  shutdown
• Content demand in the face of flash crowds
• Community response missing person databases

3
Observations

• Cellular Networks
• Largely knocked out in lower Manhattan
  correlated placement of BSs
• System overwhelmed, no way to distinguish
  priority from non-priority
• Restoration within days
• Tactical/Public Safety Radio Systems
• Different systems for fire, police, federal law
  enforcement
• Main dispatch centers knocked out in WTC
• No support for dynamic reconfiguration,
  reallocation, interoperation
• International Cooperation/Policy
• Equivalent of National Transportation Safety
  Board (NTSB)
• Guidelines for developing/deploying critical
  comms infrastructures
• Law enforcement coordination

4
Research Issues

•  Survivable Infrastructures
• Self-aware, diagnose own failed/injured
  components, re-assemble from survivors, spares,
  replacements
• Prioritize access to infrastructure
•  Adaptive Infrastructures
• Infrastructure aware of its performance in its
  impacted state, to prioritize internal allocation
  of resource
• Spare capacity/resources allocated to best use
• Manage tradeoffs between quality quantity
• Adaptive bearer services adaptive extensive
  compression for voice and video streams when
  transmission capacity has been reduced
• Incrementally take advantage of new resources as
  they become available
•  Interoperable Communications Infrastructures
• Communicating parties negotiate how to
  interoperate dynamically
• Discover each others capabilities, find lowest
  common dominator in protocols data
  representations
• Automated xlation of languages/terminology among
  communicating parties     

5
Research Issues

• Heterogeneous Wireless Infrastructures
• Integrate diverse wireless access (WLAN,
  cellular, sat nets) into single transparent
  communications system
• Software radios enable harvesting/organizing
  spectrum resources for on-demand communications
  when and where needed
• Spectrum embargoed from commercial services to
  support public safety needs
• New waveform (UWB) dynamically superimposed on
  available spectrum
•  Ad-hoc Wireless Infrastructures
• Unattended sensors distributed through area
  affected by the event
• Rapidly converging ad-hoc routing over very large
  number of nodes
• No need for a centralized infrastructure
• Completely disconnected, sometimes connected,
  usually connected, and always connected
  communications infrastructure models
•  Dynamic Resource Allocation
• More efficient, effective allocations of
  spectrum, time slots, bandwidth, processor
  cycles, storage
• Economics-based price-discriminated methods
  (congestion-pricing, auctions) to prioritize
  allocations
• Across multiple mistrusting resource providers
  and users