Services¶

The services that we have to include in our Microbox system are diverse, but due to budget, time and size of the Microbox constraints (we will discuss about this in another part), we are unable to include all that we taught about. We had the opportunity to discuss with Mr. Arnaud Glin, volunteer at the French Red Cross, whom has informed us on the tools and capabilities he taught would be useful for them at the advance posts. You will find here the email he sent us in response to our questions.

The Red-Cross needs are various in terms of connectivity. According to Arnaud Glin, they first need a connection to Internet, in order to be able to read or to receive files and to send files. Indeed, when Red Cross people operates at the advance posts, they don't know in advance exactly what operation they will have to lead, they may need the medical report of the injured persons. Moreover, during some emergency situation, cell phone and cable networks won't be working. It was the case during the AZF Chemical Plant Explosion in 2001 at Toulouse. Therefore, a connectivity with satellite internet has to be compatible with our Microbox.
The internet access should also be shareable : other people should be able to connect to internet, even if there is only one connectivity available.
Then, they will need a mean to have voice communication with operators outside the advance post. They will for example have to ask more people to come in order to manage an emergency situation. A mean to recharge several equipment, such as cellphones, tablets will also be useful for them.
An equipment (connected to internet or not) which can run several Red Cross software may be necessary, in case they don't have access to a computer.
And, due to the fact that not all the operators are competent to use the specific network equipment, a little explanatory notice will be given with the Microbox.

Obviously, all the services should be implemented with respect to the various constraints that the Microbox system has to respect, we will see that on the next part.