European module for crisis management : a crisis room on the field : design of a ready-to-deploy mobile module for crisis management.
Date: 2016-05-10
Institutions: Joint Research Centre
Subjects: civil defence, exchange of information, information analysis, natural disaster, new technology, research report, state of emergency

European Module for 
Crisis Management 
A Crisis Room on the field 

Design of a ready-to-deploy 
mobile  module  for  Crisis 
Management 

Daniele A. Galliano 

2016 

EUR 27825 

 
 
 
 
 
1 

 
 
 
 
European Module for 
Crisis Management 
A Crisis Room on the field 

2 

 
 
 
 
This  publication  is  a  Technical  report  by  the  Joint  Research  Centre,  the  European 
Commission’s in-house science service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support 
to  the  European  policy-making  process.  The  scientific  output  expressed  does  not  imply  a 
policy  position  of  the  European  Commission.  Neither  the  European  Commission  nor  any 
person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made 
of this publication. 

Contact information 
Name: Daniele A. GALLIANO 
Address: TP 680, CCR, via E. Fermi 2749, I-21027 Ispra VA 
E-mail: daniele.galliano@jrc.ec.europa.eu 
Tel.: +39 0332 78 3525 

JRC Science Hub 
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc 

JRC100880 

EUR 27825 

ISBN 978-92-79-57667-6 (PDF) 

ISSN 1831-9424 (online) 

doi:10.2788/287766 (online) 

© European Union, 2016 

Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. 

Printed in Italia 

Images 22 and 23 in pages 30 and 37 © European Union 2016, all others obtained for public 
unrestricted use. 

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Contents 

Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... 6 

Abstract .................................................................................................................... 7 

1 

Introduction ........................................................................................................ 8 

1.1 

Concept and key features................................................................................ 8 

1.2 

Self-containment ........................................................................................... 9 

1.3 

Communication and interoperability ................................................................. 9 

1.4 

Sustainability .............................................................................................. 10 

1.5  History ....................................................................................................... 11 

2  State of the art .................................................................................................. 14 

2.1 

Special Technical Unit Guidance/Communication .............................................. 14 

2.2  MDA National Mobile Command and Control Vehicle ......................................... 17 

2.3  UCL – Italian Fire Brigade ............................................................................. 18 

2.4  UCA – Milan Local Police ............................................................................... 20 

2.5 

Irvine Police Department Mobile Command & Control Vehicle ............................ 22 

3 

Implementation design ....................................................................................... 27 

3.1 

External structure ........................................................................................ 27 

3.2 

Internal organization and features ................................................................. 29 

3.3 

Power source ............................................................................................... 31 

3.4  Diesel power generator ................................................................................. 32 

3.5  Uninterruptable power source ........................................................................ 32 

3.6 

List of materials ........................................................................................... 32 

3.7  Maintenance and sustainability ...................................................................... 34 

4 

Future developments .......................................................................................... 36 

4.1 

Sensors and Internet-of-Things ..................................................................... 36 

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4.2  New usage paradigms .................................................................................. 36 

Conclusion............................................................................................................... 38 

References .............................................................................................................. 39 

List of abbreviations and definitions ............................................................................ 40 

List of figures ........................................................................................................... 41 

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Acknowledgements 

We thank 

for 

the 

information 

-  Annika Nitschke, Project Executive Officer of the Federal Agency for Technical Relief 
Technical  Unit 

(THW), 
Guidance/Communication, 
Inon  Moshkowitz,  Research  Officer  of  the  Magen  David  Adom  in  Israel  for 
information about the MDA National Mobile Command and Control Vehicle 
Fabio Giovinazzo of Italian National Fire Brigade for the valuable knowledge about 
the UCL – Italian Fire Brigade 

Special 

about 

- 

- 

the 

-  Giorgio  Colombo,  Commissioner  of  the  Local  Police  of  Milan,  for  an  extended 

documentation about the UCA – Milan Local Police 

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Abstract 

In the context of crisis management, new technologies are employed to enable the crisis 
managers exploiting better the flow of information. The presence of decision makers near 
the crisis locations helps the process of coordination, scaling from a tactical to a strategic 
level. 

Providing  promptly  a  shelter  and  a  proper  place  to  arrange  a  coordination  centre  is  a 
challenging  task,  which  requires  a  solution  agile,  flexible  and  sustainable.  In  order  to 
coordinate the efforts of different entities involved in the crisis management, the solution 
must also provide interoperability usually achieved by modularity. 

In  this  report  this  concept  will  be  further  described  together  with  past  and  present 
implementations. 

On the basis of past experiences and using consolidated technologies, the report will then 
provide a design of a mobile crisis room to be implemented in 2016. 

At  the  end  of  the  report  new  technologies  will  be  introduced  to  evaluate  their  possible 
impact on future implementation of similar solutions. 

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1  Introduction 

In this section the concept of mobile operational centres will be introduced together with 
the needs it can meet and the first implementations illustrated. 

1.1  Concept and key features 

Headquartered  in  Brussels  with  a  global  network  of  field  offices,  the  European 
Commission's Humanitarian aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) ensures rapid and 
effective delivery of EU relief assistance through its two main instruments: humanitarian 
aid and civil protection. When a country is hit by a disaster which overwhelms its response 
capacity,  in  fact,  European  countries  can  provide  assistance  via  the  EU  Civil  Protection 
Mechanism. The Mechanism was established in 2001 to foster cooperation among national 
civil protection authorities across Europe. It enables a more rapid and effective response 
to  emergencies  by  coordinating  the  delivery  of  civil  protection  teams  and  assets  to  the 
affected country and population. 

Coordination is a challenging task, that is difficult to implement when the actors involved 
cannot  be  physically  together,  exchanging  and  consolidating 
information.  The 
communication technologies provide improved solutions to allow the cooperation of many 
actors, but there are still cultural gaps which slow down this approach. Anyway, a physical 
place  to  gather  information  is  usually  needed,  also  to  gather  expertise  or  special 
equipment needed on the field. 

The  Emergency  Response  and  Coordination  Centre  is  the  24/7  operational  hub  of  the 
Mechanism and coordinates the delivery of civil protection assistance to disaster stricken 
countries  such  as  relief  items,  expertise,  intervention  teams  and  specific  equipment.  It 
replaces the previous Monitoring Information Centre (MIC) which in the past developed 
solutions  to  deploy  part  of  its  functionalities  where  mostly  needed.  The  first 
implementation was, for instance, MIC-in-the-box, a set of ICT tools kept operational and 
ready  to  be  taken  by  the  MIC  officers  to  easily  deploy  where  needed.  A  further 
development  of  this  concept,  MIC-in-a-pocket,  implemented  a  PDA  (Personal  Digital 
Assistant)  based  software  enabling  to  produce  geo-referenced  field  reports  and  publish 
them immediately on the Web. 

In order to face large scale disasters and to organize better the cooperation of the many 
actors involved, it is advisable the presence of a physical place to gather the actors and 
to moderate the flows of information into a common operational picture. 

A solution to deploy a Control and Coordination facility easily and promptly all around the 
world would also help the outbreak assistance teams of the European Centre for Disease 
Prevention  and  Control  (ECDC),  whose  expertise  may  include  epidemiology,  clinical 
medicine, public health, infection control, etc. ECDC ensures the immediate availability of 
the  necessary  material  for  field  missions,  including  state  of  the  art  communication 
material, as well as medical or protective material.  

Relocating  the  decisional  process  next  to  the  need  avoids  relying  heavily  upon  the 
communication means. It brings together all the actors involved, but allows as well that 
the  first  actor  arriving  can  start  performing  and  establishing  the  post.  In  case  the 

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procedures require to pass later the control position to another actor, this won’t move the 
location of the post, it will just alter its internal organization. 

A typical example is an event requiring the joint intervention of local police, fire brigade 
and sanitary personnel. Usually, a natural disaster will be under the fire brigade control. 
The first actor arriving on the place best suited to establish a control post will set it up. 
When  the  fire  brigade  personnel  will  arrive,  it  will  take  charge  of  the  situation,  but  the 
position will be the same. 

In the same way, either the ERCC or another actor of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism 
could reach the emergency location to start implementing a crisis management centre to 
be later merged into a coordinated structure of the Mechanism. 

The assets required by a mobile command and control solution will vary on the basis of 
its specific tasks, but it is possible to determine some common needs: 

-  Self-containment 
-  Communication and interoperability 
-  Sustainability 

1.2  Self-containment 

The mobile unit must provide energy for all its apparatus, including those for the comfort 
of its operators. 

Batteries can provide energy, but cannot last for long and cannot be too many, because 
of the weight. An additional source of power is therefore needed. Not always the power 
grid will be available during the events, but it is the perfect solution when present. In a 
critical situation though, its behaviour is not predictable and electrical safeties must be 
employed  to  prevent  overcharging  the  mobile  unit’s  system.  An  engine  based  power 
generator will be anyway necessary to ensure full-time availability of energy. Renewable 
sources of energy are advised, since solar panels or wind turbines can be installed on the 
roof,  but  they  cannot  guarantee  a  24/7  delivery  of  power,  still  adding  complexity  and 
maintenance requirements. 

The  energy  is  required  to  operate  the  equipment,  including  lights  and  signals, 
communications, computers and cameras; but also to provide heat and air conditioning 
for  the  comfort  of  the  operators.  Mobile  equipment  will  also  require  charging  batteries, 
using the energy provided by the unit. 

The mobile unit is then required to provide all the necessary means to establish a post, 
including shelters to enlarge the operational workspace and all the first intervention aids 
to help the population or endangered operators: CPR equipment, stretches, first aid kits, 
blankets and spare garments, but also what is necessary to confine a space, like barricade 
tapes or retractable belt barriers. 

1.3  Communication and interoperability 

While the paradigm of crisis management evolved from the military organizations and the 
civil protections developed, the  operators involved on the site of intervention created a 

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Trading  Zone,  where  the  actors  share  and  give  meaning  to  information  to  synchronize 
their actions (Boersma, May 2014) (Wolbers & Boersma, December 2013). 

This requires the solutions adopted to allow the maximum interoperability. The best way 
to  achieve  that  is  the  use  of  common  standards,  where  they  can  be  applied.  A  certain 
effort  is  still  required  at  national  level  to  provide  all  involved  corps  with  interoperable 
technology.  Some  member  states  already  promoted  the  use  of  intercommunication 
standards (e.g. decreto 17 giugno 2008, Ministero dell’Interno, Italia), thus implementing 
leopard  spotted  integrations  of  the  emergency  services.  Promotions  of  these  standards 
will lead in the future to use them on the whole territory and possibly cross-borders. 

At  supranational  level,  the  level  reached  at  the  moment  is  quite  low.  Cross-borders 
exercises  and  activities  pointed  out  this  problem  in  the  past,  leading  to  small  projects, 
carried on case by case by the different corps, in the frame of an ongoing European effort 
started in 1985 along with the Schengen agreement. Various regions of common interest 
have been identified, like the alpine region (including the Alps, their foothills and plains, 
part of the Mediterranean coast and of the basins of Danube, Po, Adige, Rhone and Rhine) 
and sustained in the frame of INTERREG projects. 

Interoperability and exchange of information require reliable means of communication and 
a  common  understanding,  based  on  a  common  lexicon  or  the  means  to  combine  the 
differences in a consistent way. 

The telecommunications infrastructures are improving and benefit from the Digital Agenda 
for  Europe  (COMMISSION),  which  explicitly  refers  to  Interoperability  and  standards  in 
section 2.2. 

The use of one single common language is utopic: the operators have to interface with 
the population in its native language (even two or three at the same time, e.g. Cataluña) 
and in crisis conditions there is no need of an additional strain caused by the translation. 
The  technology  to  transform  formalized  information  from  one  language  to  another  is 
available and widespread and the alerting solutions already benefit from it (e.g. CAP). 

The  military  background  of  many  operators  in  civil  protections  led  many  to  ask  for 
standardization  agreements  similar  to  others  adopted  by  military  forces  (e.g.  NATO 
Standardization Office). Harmonised standards are not developed in the field, but many 
are requested to be developed in the frame of Horizon 2020, like those regarding eHealth. 

1.4  Sustainability 

A mobile unit as a self-contained system requires to be maintained in full efficiency: its 
components must be available on the market at reasonable prices and in a free market 
condition. Proprietary solutions are not consistent with the requirements of a system, that 
can be freely deployed in foreign countries inside and outside the European continent. The 
key components should therefore foresee a lifespan of several years, while the additional 
components should be chosen depending on their cost/lifespan ratio. Refurbishing the unit 
after a field mission has to require a slight fraction of the cost of the unit, and must be 
possible in a reasonable time. If this means that it is required stocking consumables and 

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spare parts, this also has to be a negligible investment, if compared to the overall cost of 
the solution. 

Well established technologies or de facto standards are to be preferred, even if requiring 
additional expenses including software licences. 

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have to be developed and maintained to keep the 
unit fully operational while deployed and when recovered. The personnel will follow them 
and routinely will check the readiness of the unit. 

A key component of sustainability is the coherency of the working environment within a 
mobile unit with the day-by-day working conditions of its operators. This means that the 
same equipment and ICT solutions should be used for both; or at least they have to adopt 
the  same  conventions  and  use  philosophy,  thus  providing  a  common  context  to  the 
operator, who will always be able to refer to the same working conditions, since he needs 
to operate exactly as he does in his office. 

1.5  History 

The second World War was a conflict where the fast movements of troops and resources 
created vast fields of operations: the battlefields, which were extremely confined only 25 
years before, extended for tens or hundreds of kilometres. 

There  was  no  way  to  arrange  a  command  post  in  a  building,  when  finding  a  suitable 
location could depend by a last minute change of fortune. The lack of inhabited regions in 
northern  Africa  led  Sir  Bernard  Montgomery  to  elaborate  a  travelling  command  post, 
basically a cabin mounted on the rear of a lorry. Originally built for Italian General Annibale 
Bergonzoli,  the  caravan  was  captured  in  1941  near  Benghazi  and  split  in  two 
compartments: forward there was a toilet and a wash basin, and in the rear were map 
lockers, a collapsible map table and a bed-settee.  

This  solution,  later  deployed  in  Tunisia,  Sicily,  Italy  and  Normandy,  provided  a  more 
refined  solution  than  usual  armoured  vehicles  such  as  those  used  by  his  German 
counterpart, Edwin Rommel, since it already presented the concepts expressed so far: this 
was the first solution providing inside the working environment instead of just bringing 
the material to establish an on-the-field command post. It was so successful, that General 
Montgomery  adopted  other  two  caravans  to  implement  his  mobile  headquarters,  and 
many other of his colleagues followed his example. 

In Figure 1 it is clearly visible the extension of the unit with other mobile units to create 
a larger space. 

In Figure 2 the interior is used as a working environment: the wall of the cabin is used to 
arrange maps to georeference the strategy. 

In Figure 3 the personnel needs some time to rest: the unit must provide the means and 
comforts for it. 

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Later,  many  other  military  forces  provided  themselves  with  other  solutions.  The 
armoured versions were preferred: using tracks they were all terrain solutions; but they 
were slower, offered less space and were not applicable to civil uses. 

Figure  1  Alan  Brooke,  Winston  Churchill,  and  Bernard  Montgomery  at  Montgomery's  mobile 
headquarters in Normandy, France, 12 Jun 1944 

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Figure 2 King George VI listens as Field Marshal Sir Bernard 
Montgomery  outlines  his  future  strategy  at  his  mobile 
headquarters in Holland, 13 October 1944 

Figure  3  General  Montgomery  with  his 
puppies  "Hitler"  and  "Rommel"  at  his 
mobile  headquarters  in  Normandy,  6 
July 1944 

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2  State of the art 

In  this  section,  some  mobile  units  are  presented.  Far  from  being  exhaustive,  this 
presentation allows spotting the common principles shared by the implementations of the 
generic model. 

2.1  Special Technical Unit Guidance/Communication 

The special technical unit Guidance/ Communication (FGr FK) in particular serves the purpose 
of guiding THW units and applies the communicational tasks necessary for guiding THW action 
forces  and  communicating  to  the  public  utility  provider.  It  may  also  support  the  incident 
command of the requesting agency in setting up a functional communications network for the 
affected area. The mobile control centre, consisting of a lorry with a trailer, can be designed 
as a large integrated office with modern technical equipment. 

Individual divisions of the Technical Unit Guidance/Communication can be tactically separated 
and used for variety of especially supportive tasks. The Technical Unit may also support other 
units or auxiliary forces with telecommunications. As an addition, the THW provides four wide-
area  squads  to  enlarge  telecommunication  hubs  and  data  linkage  and  for  establishing  and 
maintaining autonomous telecommunication facilities. 

Characteristic equipment 

  Versatile mobile relays stations with 2m/4m cables 
  Mobile stations equipment 
  Building equipment for cable boxes and remote cable boxes 
  Mobile telecommunications systems (analogue, ISDN, GSM and DECT) 
  Field-ready telecommunications systems for dial and common battery use 
  Management assistance 

Special equipment 

  Directional radio or wireless switched network 
  Satellite communications 

Vehicles 

  Guiding Emergency Vehicle, 1t cargo load, estate car, 1+5 seats 
  Management/communications cars, 3t cargo load, box body, 1+5 seats 
  Trailer, management and situation, 2t cargo load, special body, foldout, tandem truck 
  Telecommunications  car,  3t  cargo  load,  1+6  seats,  platform/conversion  kit,  terrain 

ready 

Wide-area squad 

  5-car vehicle, terrain-ready, 4x4 drive, 1+3 seats 
  Special vehicle for setting up pylons, 3 trucks, special body, telecommunications pylon 

30 m 

  Trailer, 2t cargo load, tandem truck 

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Figure  4  The  components  of  the  THW  Special 
Technical Unit 

Figure 5 The THW Special Technical Unit deployed 

Figure 6 Manning of the THW Special Technical Unit 

15 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 7 Operations in the THW Special Technical Unit 

The unit aims specifically at restoring the communication means in the area affected, thus 
acting as a concentration hub for the flow of information. Notified by the operators about the 
situation, it can easily help in building a COP. 

Self-containment 

Self-propelled, power batteries in trailers 

Communication and 
interoperability 

Designed specifically to establish communications 

Sustainability 

Designed internally, built locally 

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2.2  MDA National Mobile Command and Control Vehicle 

Figure 8 MDA National Mobile Command and Control Vehicle 

The vehicle was invented, built and programmed to act as a special MDA command post. It is 
mounted on a Dutch DAF truck chassis and was built in England and equipped with advanced 
technologies from Israel. 

The 16m long vehicle is 4m high and weighs 32 tons. It is supported by a generator truck and 
fuel tank which holds over 900l of diesel fuel. 

Figure 9 Inside the MDA National Mobile Command and Control Vehicle 

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The  command  centre  includes  a  huge  boardroom  which  is  completely  separate  from  the 
operational  stations.  The  centre  is  equipped  with  technology,  aerials  and  dishes  to  keep 
communication channels open 

Among  other  things,  the  truck  is  equipped  with  advanced  cameras  that  rise  19m  high  and 
includes a conference room.  

Construction, which took four years, was commissioned after the 2009 Carmel fire disaster, 
during  which  the  MDA  encountered  challenges  with  regard  to  communications  and 
coordination of rescue efforts. 

Self-containment 

Self-propelled, power generator 

Communication and 
interoperability 

Reliable multi-standard communications 

Sustainability 

Built abroad, but equipped in house 

2.3  UCL – Italian Fire Brigade 

In order to comply with a 2006 policy of Italian Presidency of the Ministries Council, which 
created the position of the Technical Rescue Director (DTS, Direttore Tecnico del Soccorso), 
the Italian Fire Brigade developed the Local Command Unit (UCL - Unità di Comando Locale) 
to support this position’s activities and to ease the coordination with the other organizations. 

The  UCL  is  a  mobile  station  for  control  and  coordination,  which  is  essential  for  the 
management of interventions that require the use of significant resources in terms of means 
and operators of the Italian Fire Brigade (CNVVF). It is also used to bring together teams of 
CNVVF  with  representatives  of  other  agencies  and  other  organizations  involved  in  the 
management  of  interventions  in  more  complex  scenarios.  The  UCL  can  be  considered  an 
extension  of  the  operating  rooms  of  CNVVF,  as  it  is  integrated  with  the  systems  of 
telecommunications and data transmission. 

In the search for missing persons, for the possible presence in the field of a large number of 
agencies and organizations, the UCL is the  natural point of contact between them, since it 
provides information about the area, allowing the planning and subsequent management of 
relief  operations.  When  the  use  of  technology  and  systems  TAS  (Topography  Applied  to 
Rescue) is needed, the  UCL  can be indispensable for the activities of  search and  rescue  of 
missing people (SAR - Search And Rescue). 

In  the  ordinary  configuration  the  fire  brigade  UCL  has  radio  communication  systems  and 
telephones  to  contact  other  agencies  and  central  commands,  it  also  provides  the  data 
processing and cartography. 

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A  considerable  number  of  UCLs  from  different  Fire  Brigade  commands  has  been  used  for 
months in the relief efforts following the earthquake of April 6, 2009 in Aquila. 

Figure 10 UCL - Internal and external arrangement 

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Figure 11 ICT equipment: radio links and servers 

Self-containment 

Self-propelled, power batteries that can be charged by the vehicle 
engine 

Communication and 
interoperability 

Reliable  multi-standard  communications  integrated  with  the  other 
operating rooms, including same software and data formats 

Designed  to  interoperate  with  similar  vehicles  of  Police  and  Red 
Cross 

Sustainability 

Built locally, internally designed, retail equipment 

2.4  UCA – Milan Local Police 

This  vehicle  is  used  primarily  as  an  Advanced  Command  Unit  (UCA  –  Unità  di  Comando 
Avanzato),  in  order  to  manage  events  during  emergencies  or  other  situations  out  of  the 
ordinary, such as severe car accidents, seismic events, floods and the like. As ordinary use, 

20 

 
 
 
 
 
 
it will perform surveillance on the roads for heavy traffic and during the weekends (to avoid 
weekends nights’ accidents). 

After an in-house built prototype, the Local Police Command requested through a tender the 
implementation of two new vehicles. 

These units will be able to connect to the network of many thousands of cameras displaced 
in  the  metropolitan  area  of  Milan  and  to  provide  additional  cameras  itself,  including  those 
mounted on a mast on top of the unit. 

The unit is provided with all the means to act as a control unit and a first aid facility. It has 
lights and power units, medical provisions including a back safe stretcher and a CPR device, 
technical  complements  including  mobile  barriers  and  a  LED  panel  to  signal  the  population 
about the nature of the event. 

The unit is also provided with a workstation, a notebook and a printer and all are connected 
through various means with the Internet and the Local Police network. 

The UCA is compliant with similar units from the Fire Brigade and the Italian Red Cross, in 
order to interoperate and create a joint command post. 

Figure 12 The Advanced Command Unit deployed for the Seveso flood, 2014 

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Figure 13 Advanced Command Unit interior 

Self-containment 

Self-propelled, power batteries that can be charged by the vehicle 
engine 

Communication and 
interoperability 

Reliable  multi-standard  communications  integrated  with  the  other 
operating rooms and the CCTV systems 

Designed  to  interoperate  with  similar  vehicles  of  Fire  Brigade  and 
Red Cross 

Sustainability 

Built locally, internally designed, retail equipment 

2.5  Irvine Police Department Mobile Command & Control Vehicle 

In February 2008, the Irvine, California Police department commissioned orange county’s first 
command and control vehicle. The primary objectives for the vehicle include helping at major 
traffic  collisions,  aircraft  crashes,  hazardous  material  spills,  major  crime  scenes,  crimes  in 
progress, natural disasters, and as a resource for police outreach at community events. 

The  45-foot  (13.7  metres)  vehicle,  manufactured  by  Renegade  Specialty  Vehicles,  Bristol, 
Indiana, required seamless integration of voice, data, and video communications to enable 
incident commanders to coordinate tremendous resources at the scene of an event. 

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The Irvine Police department selected CompView as the integrator for the mobile command 
vehicle because of CompView’s experience in design and installation of command and control 
systems along with their status as a GSA (U.S. General Services Administration) contractor. 

The final plan for the vehicle included the ability to capture live video feeds and record video 
for future viewing, access the internet, and receive broadcast television signals. Within the 
vehicle, there are four technology enabled areas;  

1. The communication and dispatch areas equipped with multiple 22-inch-wide displays for 
accessing the internet and receiving police report data.  

2. The conference room - outfitted with a large display that serves as both a media display 
and an interactive whiteboard for highlighting tactics.  

3. The outside workstation - for accessing media reports. 

4.  The  galley  -  for  housing  radio  reception  and  audio  visual  equipment  as  well  as  a 
communication area with viewing monitors. 

23 

 
 
Figure 14 Conference room 

Figure 15 Outside Workstation 

Figure 16 Touch control panel 

The  communication  room  has  two  dispatch  stations  and  two  communication  stations.  The 
dispatch stations have a computer and three monitors to view news casts, internet sites, and 
video  as  well  as  a  microphone,  a  police  communication  radio  and  telephone.  The 
communication stations are similarly equipped with two display monitors to view news casts, 
video, or the internet as well as radio dispatching equipment and a telephone. 

In  the  conference  room,  a  Pn340  SMART  Board  for  flat-panel  displays,  allows  Incident 
commanders to simply touch the display to control computer applications, write in digital ink 
and save notes. The large 40” display is secured to the vehicle with a Premier Mount PCM 

24 

 
 
 
 
 
MS2 wall mount. This universal mount was selected for its ease of installation and high safety 
standards. 

Integrated  into  the  wall  of  the  conference  room  is  an  AMX  MVP-8400  8.4”  Wireless  Touch 
Panel which provides Incident commanders with easy one-touch routing and control over all 
of the audio visual systems. The touch panel features a security system that requires the user 
to  enter  a  pass  code  to  release  the  touch  panel  from  the  docking  station.  Once  the  touch 
panel display is released from the wall mount it becomes a wireless touch panel providing the 
Incident  commander  with  the  flexibility  to  use  the  device  anywhere  inside  or  outside  the 
vehicle. 

The outside workstation is located on the same side as the entrance into the vehicle and is 
revealed when the door to the workstation is folded down. This area holds a 32” Samsung 
HDTV selected for its thin design and crisp images. The workstation also holds a phone and 
dispatch radio. This space enables emergency staff to gather around to view the latest news 
of the event and receive directions.  

The galley is located in the centre of the vehicle and holds the heart of the audio visual system 
in  two  built-in  equipment  racks.  One  rack  contains  the  radio  communication  equipment, 
network components and off-air helicopter decoders. The second equipment rack contains the 
audio visual equipment routers and decoders. The routers system is capable of routing RGBHV 
from  eight  interfaced  operators,  dual  screen  computers,  and  conference  centre  Pc’s, 
component  video  from  satellite  receivers,  and  video  sources  along  with  stereo  audio  to  all 
areas  of  the  vehicle,  both  internal  and  external.  Access  to  the  Orange  County  MESH  video 
network is made possible by MPEg4 decoders with network bandwidth friendly requirements 
and  capability  to  provide  real-time  video  from  the  wireless  MESH  network.  The  galley  also 
contains  two  more  communication  stations  with  small  overhead  monitors  for  viewing  live 
video feeds from cameras outside the vehicle. 

Figure 17 The galley 

25 

 
 
 
 
Figure 18 Irvine Police Department Mobile Command & Control Vehicle 

Self-containment 

Self-propelled, power batteries that can be charged by the vehicle 
engine 

Communication and 
interoperability 

Reliable  multi-standard  communications  integrated  with  the  other 
operating rooms, including same software and data formats 

Designed  to  interoperate  with  similar  vehicles  of  Police  and  Red 
Cross 

Sustainability 

Built locally, internally designed, retail equipment 

26 

 
 
 
 
 
3  Implementation design 

The specific needs of a Mobile Crisis Management Unit for a fast deployment all over the world 
in support of the crisis management effort are anyway different from the examples illustrated 
so far. 

This  section  will  present  a  design  of  a  possible  implementation  of  such  a  unit  and  the 
description of the chosen solutions. 

Referring to the same table used so far, the solution will rate like this: 

Self-containment 

Not self-propelled, power batteries that can be charged by different 
means 

Communication and 
interoperability 

Reliable  multi-standard  communications  integrated  with  the  other 
operating rooms, including same software and data formats 

Designed to interoperate with similar equipment 

Sustainability 

Built using international standards, easy to replace components 

3.1  External structure 

The common trait of the implementations listed in the previous sections is autonomy: they 
are all vehicles provided with additional equipment to implement a working environment for 
crisis managers. 

Using  a  vehicle  allows  the  mobile  unit  deploy  itself  where  needed  and  to  benefit  from  the 
locomotion  engine;  nevertheless,  all  the  solutions  come  from  the  exigence  of  an  entity 
operating on its territory with well-defined requirements and operated by drivers used to the 
topology and the roads. 

Developing a mobile unit for a wider use, including a rapid deployment abroad with different 
traffic  rules  and  sometimes  even  fuel  composition,  would  benefit  from  detaching  the 
locomotion component from the unit itself. A unit that is delivered on the territory in order to 
be carried on the right spot by a local vehicle has several advantages: 

  A smaller size will comply better with the needs of the carrier 
  On the destination site it will be more probable to find the right transport 
  The crew operating the transport will be local, therefore better trained for moving on 

the territory 

27 

 
 
 
Using a standard sizing for the unit means that  it will be straight-forward loading it on the 
transport provided by the selected carrier and sending it where needed. On the destination 
site a standard mean of transport will also be easy to be arranged. 

For this development, the ISO container 20’ long 

  provides enough space for the equipment and the operators as well 
 
 

is a very consolidated mean of transport 
is already available on the market as a basis for this use 

A ISO container 20’ long provides 

  a length of 5.898 m 
  a width of 2.352 m 
  a height of 2.394 m 

thus  providing  approximately  14  m2  area  and  33  m3  volume.  Such  dimensions  are  the 
minimum  requirements  for  three  operators  working  full  time  in  normal  conditions,  for  this 
reason the design will use a flexible solution, that provides some additional space. 

Some easily deployable containerized offices in fact allows providing more space by collapsing 
one or two of the longer walls: this doubles or triples the working space, thus providing room 
for meeting tables or a projector. 

The  time  required  by  this  operation  is  usually  below  30  minutes:  therefore,  the  total 
preparation of the mobile unit would be immediate, once arrived at the destination. 

Solutions which can provide both this flexibility and the capability to store inside them the 
equipment must be preferred: there is no sense in having a container, which is not used to 
contain the related material when not used. 

An alternative is, therefore, the capability to  open the long walls in the middle to create a 
contained space or a connection with a similar unit. 

In  the  following  pictures  the  concept  is  made  clear  showing,  for  instance,  the  solution  by 
SEABOX Inc., New Jersey. 

28 

 
 
Figure 19 Different perspectives of the mobile shelter 

Figure 20 The mobile shelter floorplan 

Figure 21 The mobile shelter deployment 

3.2  Internal organization and features 

The  interior  of  the  Mobile  Crisis  Room  will  be  divided  in  two  main  areas:  a  meeting  and 
planning area and a monitoring and coordination area. 

In the first area, the crisis managers can evaluate the situation with the additional information 
analysts and operators provided: the mobile unit will be provided with all the means (data 
and software) to evaluate the situation and provide a COP. 

29 

 
 
 
 
 
 
This work will be done in the second area, where workstations will be available to handle the 
flow of information and to aggregate into it the data available locally and online. Information 
coming from the field will also be ingested and fed into the COP. 

Figure 22 Example of internal organization 

Two workstations will be provided, completed by big displays, in order to work easily with GIS 
and other graphic software. The contents created there will be available on a local network 
and published on a video-wall (around 2 ½ square meters). 

30 

UPSPower GeneratorEquipment cabinetVideo wall 
 
 
 
Additional workstations will be implemented using rugged laptops. 

The mobile unit will be equipped with a WiFi hotspot, capable to provide both a local network 
and access to the Internet through various means: 

  Cable connect with existing LAN infrastructure 
  Access to the DSL connection 
  Mobile network access (UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA and GSM/GPRS/EDGE) 
  Satellite connection 

This device should also allow to connect normal phones both through the mobile network and 
accessing the cable based telecommunication network. 

The workstations (fixed and mobile) will be therefore connected between themselves and with 
the servers deployed in the unit. The servers will be virtual machines deployed into a cluster-
in-a-box system, a small redundant server, capable to host several virtual servers and the 
necessary storage. This system will be installed in the small area hosting the power generator 
and the UPS, in order to confine the noise generating devices. 

Next  to  the  meeting  area,  the  telecommunication  systems  will  allow  coordinating  the 
operations. All common means of communication will be available like phone, radio and the 
Internet based services. 

Where  possible,  the  unit  will  receive  video  streams  from  the  cameras  deployed  on  the 
territory; but other means should be available to get promptly images of the interested areas. 
Recently, retail market UAVs developed to reduce costs and complexity still providing easy to 
use devices with a valuable payload. Users can easily pilot small copters to dangerous areas 
and get pictures:  probably, these will not be fit for precise mapping,  but up to the task  of 
providing a better knowledge of the situation. At least one of this device should be present 
ready to fly and acquire images of the struck area.  

3.3  Power source 

The mobile unit requires to be self-contained and to provide itself with an autonomous power 
source. 

Given the description in previous section, it is possible to estimate the power consumed by 
the equipment. 

Equipment 
Workstation 
Laptop 
Server 
Video-wall 
Air Conditioning 
Lamps 
Telecommunications 
Miscellaneous 

Quantity  Power/Unit  Peak power 
 250 W 
 125 W 
 200 W 
 50 W 
2 000 W 
2 000 W 
 900 W 
 900 W 
3 500 W 
3 500 W 
 90 W 
 15 W 
1 500 W 
1 500 W 
 500 W 
 500 W 

2 
4 
1 
1 
1 
6 
1 
1 

31 

 
 
(Battery chargers, ...) 

8 940 W 

Over-estimating the usual consumption at 75% of the peak power required by the equipment, 
the power source must be able to provide at least 6.7 kW. 

3.4  Diesel power generator 

The mobile unit will therefore be provided with a 10 kVA diesel generator, which will deliver 
8 kW. The typical three-cylinders engine based generator consumes less than 2 litres of fuel 
per hour: a 50 litres tank will allow about a day of power generation. 

Special cases can dampen the engine sound below 50 dB, thus allowing housing the generator 
in the container, as long as the air inlet and outlet are connected outside. 

Such a device weighs around 400 kilograms. 

3.5  Uninterruptable power source 

In order to stabilize the electrical power, to provide the time required by the power generator 
to kick in and to let the work start as soon as possible, the Mobile Unit will be also provided 
with an UPS. A rack mounted UPS with a single battery pack can provide the required 7 kW 
of power for 15 minutes. This is more than enough to cope with a power failure: the power 
generator can be started in a few minutes; in order to start the equipment while deploying 
the unit, additional battery packs can provide the required power. 

Such a device weighs around 70 kilograms, more or less like each battery pack. 

Together, these devices require less than two cubic meters and can be easily installed in the 
same space devoted to the server. Anyway, this means that on one end, the unit will have a 
considerable weight. Steps have to be taken in order to balance it: this will avoid straining its 
structure and will let it be handled more easily by fork lifts. 

3.6  List of materials 

In this section, there will be a possible list of materials to be deployed and integrated into the 
Mobile Command and Control Unit. A cost estimation of the material will be necessary in the 
design phase of the tender for the implementation of this functional design. The material will 
be divided in categories: 

 
 
 

Infrastructure 
Information and communication technology 
Intervention support 

Material 

Quantity 

Infrastructure 

32 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Containerized office unit (includes air conditioning) 

Diesel generator of electric power 

UPS 

Furniture (table, desks, chairs, cabinets) 

1 

1 

1 

In order to be transported as a normal container, the material inside it have to be secured by 
latches  or  safety  belts.  The  mobile  unit  must  not  be  used  during  transports,  whatever  the 
mean used (aircraft, lorry, boat, …). 

Information and communication technology 

Material 

High-profile PC 

High resolution display 

Rugged laptop 

Cluster-in-a-box 

Radio-link 

Satellite link 

High performance WiFi switch modem/router 

Laser colour printer 

Frameless monitor (42”) 

Video wall controller 

Phone 

Quantity 

2 

4 

4 

1 

1 

1 

2 

1 

4 

1 

2 

The unit must be able to provide the user a safe working environment and the means to take 
care of small accidents. 

Intervention support 

Material 

Quantity 

Tools  to  prepare  the  deployment  area  (shovel,  axe, 
mace) 
Red-white barricade tape or  retractable belt barriers to 
limit the area 

3 

10  to  50 
meters 

First aid kit 

CPR device 

2 

1 

33 

 
 
 
Blankets 

Protection helmets 

Safety glasses 

Fire extinguisher 

Rechargeable flashlight 

Water jerry can 

6 

6 

6 

2 

3 

2 

3.7  Maintenance and sustainability 

In  order  to  be  effective,  the  crew  of  the  mobile  unit  must  recognize  it  as  a  familiar  work 
environment:  therefore,  working  in  it  must  be  as  similar  as  possible  to  the  daily  work 
experience  of  the  operators.  The  software  and  hardware  must  be  the  same,  and  all  the 
procedures common to these two environment must be identical and identically applied. 

In  case  of  reduced  activity  of  the  unit,  the  crew  must  perform  regular  exercises  in  it:  all 
procedures  specific  to  the  on-the-field  activities  of  the  unit  must  be  familiar  as  the  daily 
activities in common with the usual working environment. 

SOPs must be shared with the resident crisis rooms as much as possible. 

For the specific task of maintaining the facility, there will be three level of SOPs: 

Inventory 
 
  Efficiency 
  Proficiency 

At inventory level, a SOP must be performed to assess the quantity of material present in the 
unit and to refurbish it in case it was used. It has to applied every time the unit is recovered 
after use. 

At efficiency level, the material and the devices in the unit will be tested. Materials must be 
present as requested by the full capacity list and of the necessary quality: overdue material 
must  be  replaced,  all  batteries  must  be  at  full  charge  (and  periodically  undergo  a 
discharge/recharge cycle), laser printer toner refills installed. All software must be updated. 
The  SOP  has  to  be  applied  on  a  regular  basis  and  before  sending  the  unit  to  be  deployed 
elsewhere. 

At proficiency level, the unit must be powered up and used as deployed on the field. All the 
devices must be used in simulations or exercises. 

All communication devices will be tested in communication with a resident Crisis Room facility. 

All software must be checked using a set of tests and performing a set of procedures, which 
will include: 

  Data ingestion 

34 

 
 
  COP production and delivery (sent by different means and in different formats) 
  Handouts print 

35 

 
 
 
4  Future developments 

New technologies in ICT are continuously developed and it is straightforward applying them 
to the Crisis Management, as long as they provide additional capabilities to the system without 
requiring a massive reorganization of the procedures: the improvements of mobile telephone 
network  to  send  and  receive  data  are  automatically  exploited  by  the  systems  as  soon  as 
available. 

Others are the technological innovations that can improve the Crisis Management activities in 
a new way, maybe reducing the costs or the risks in terms of materials or human lives. 

4.1  Sensors and Internet-of-Things 

It  has  been  demonstrated  the  benefit  an  unmanned  vehicle  can  provide  in  emergency 
situations, eventually the UAV were investigated in a specific workshop (Rester, Spruyt, De 
Groeve, Van Damme, & Ali, 2013). 

Providing those with the Mobile Command and Control Unit will allow immediate investigation 
of  the  crisis  area  and  the  capability  to  have  a  prompt  knowledge  of  it  even  in  hazardous 
conditions; but with more advanced solutions it will be possible to take georeferenced pictures 
in order to produce detailed land maps or even 3D models of the area. 

Other  uses  of  UAVs  include  the  implementation  of  a  limited  WAN:  this  requires  the  use  of 
several vehicles, given the reduction of autonomy caused by an intense activity of radio based 
transmissions; therefore, other viable solutions adopted hot-air balloons to fly. 

The  unit  will  not  require  a  large  array  of  sensors,  trying  to  cope  with  all  the  possible 
requirements, just a few kits for fast assessing the quality of air and water will be sufficient. 
It is in fact better trying to have it connected easily with the network of sensors the territory 
can provide: an effort is necessary to provide it with the means to interface easily with other 
systems, including softwares to translate data formats. 

The  recent  developments  in  IoT  for  instance  is  providing  the  capability  to  create  low  cost 
sensors  easily  deployed  on  all  territories.  Large  grids  of  this  kind  of  sensors  will  be  soon 
available: the mobile unit must be able to integrate easily with them and to use their data. 
This means also that the unit will be IPv6 enabled. 

4.2  New usage paradigms 

The  crisis  management  activities  are  benefitting  from  new  technologies,  as  soon  as  they 
mature enough to be reliable on the field. Now it is possible to have large visualization areas 
near  the  disaster  site.  This  kind  of  devices  already  proved  to  be  very  effective  (Rester, 
Judmaier, De Groeve, & Annunziato, 2013), but using them in such a specific task requires 
both specific software and hardware solutions. The usage of a device on the field requires the 
hardware shifting from the common usage paradigm, where the devices are installed in very 
controlled  environments,  to  a  platform,  that  can  easily  undergo  to  power  shortage  and 
physical  strains.  On  the  other  hand,  in  such  a  condition,  where  the  command  and  control 
activity is so close to the field, a dynamic and prompt acquisition of information is a key point 

36 

 
 
and  the  controlling  software  of  these  devices  is  very  often  not  up  to  the  task:  custom 
implementations are required to face the new requirements. 

On the other hand, mobile computing progress is providing new devices, which can deliver 
big computational and displaying power for long time at cheap costs. These devices can be 
wearable and complement the user experience of the reality with additional data, allowing the 
users to benefit from the real elements, automatically fed into the system, that can ingest 
the real objects near the users into its reality representation. 

In the scenarios that can be developed from these premises, the real space where the crisis 
management will occur becomes secondary: the users will find more natural interacting with 
digital information, that will become part of the space surrounding them, including the remote 
interaction and collaboration. The best part of the required hardware will be used naturally by 
the unit crew, who will need less and less frequently to interact with the information systems 
by using keyboards and mice. Every flat surface or even empty space will be available to be 
used as a video wall. The only needs will be a backend server and a WiFi powerful enough to 
handle all the traffic with it. 

Figure 23 Fictional briefing: the users look at maps created in augmented reality, the pointer itself is 
virtual 

37 

 
 
 
 
Conclusion  

In order to provide a crisis management facility as close as possible to the location of the 
generating phenomenon, the design of Mobile Command and Control Unit requires both 
simplicity  and  flexibility.  This  can  be  achieved  by  learning  from  existing  experiences, 
introducing the concept of an easy to deploy self-contained unit without its own locomotion 
means, but easy to transfer and deploy all around the world. 

The solution described can be used to develop the design of a tender to ask the market to 
implement such a facility. The use and maintenance of the unit will then require a periodic 
use of it, even if no real need is present. Other than exercises, a list of checking procedures 
will maintain it up to date and fully operational and ready for immediate use. 

The  use  of  new  technology  will  make  it  more  effective  and  maybe  will  introduce  some 
simplification. 

38 

 
 
References 

Boersma, K. (May 2014). Beyond the Myth of Control: toward network switching in disaster 
management. 11th International ISCRAM Conference. University Park, Pennsylvania, 
USA. 

COMMISSION,  E. 

(s.d.).  A  Digital  Agenda 

for  Europe.  Tratto  da  http://eur-

lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52010DC0245 

Rester,  M.,  Judmaier,  P.,  De  Groeve,  T.,  &  Annunziato,  A.  (2013).  Collaborative  Human-
Computer  Interaction  with  Big  Wall  Displays.  BigWallHCI  2013  3rd  JRC  ECML  Crisis 
da 
Management 
http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/111111111/30420 

Technology  Workshop. 

Ispra: 

Tratto 

JRC. 

EC 

Rester, M., Spruyt, P.,  De  Groeve, T., Van  Damme, O.,  & Ali, A. (2013). Unmanned Aerial 
Systems  for  Rapid  Mapping.  UASRapidMap  2013  4th  JRC  ECML  Crisis  Management 
Technology Workshop. Ispra: EC JRC. 

Wolbers, J., & Boersma, K. (December 2013). The Common Operational Picture as Collective 

Sensemaking. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, Volume 21. 

39 

 
 
 
List of abbreviations and definitions 

SOP  Standard Operating Procedure 

COP  Common Operational Picture 

LAN 

Local Area Network 

WAN  Wide Area Network 

IoT 

Internet of Things 

40 

 
 
List of figures 

Figure 1 Alan Brooke, Winston Churchill, and Bernard Montgomery at Montgomery's mobile 
headquarters in Normandy, France, 12 Jun 1944 ......................................................... 12 

Figure 2 King George VI listens as Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery outlines his future 
strategy at his mobile headquarters in Holland, 13 October 1944 ................................... 13 

Figure  3  General  Montgomery  with  his  puppies  "Hitler"  and  "Rommel"  at  his  mobile 
headquarters in Normandy, 6 July 1944 ...................................................................... 13 

Figure 4 The components of the THW Special Technical Unit .......................................... 15 

Figure 5 The THW Special Technical Unit deployed ....................................................... 15 

Figure 6 Manning of the THW Special Technical Unit ..................................................... 15 

Figure 7 Operations in the THW Special Technical Unit .................................................. 16 

Figure 8 MDA National Mobile Command and Control Vehicle ......................................... 17 

Figure 9 Inside the MDA National Mobile Command and Control Vehicle .......................... 17 

Figure 10 UCL - Internal and external arrangement ...................................................... 19 

Figure 11 ICT equipment: radio links and servers ......................................................... 20 

Figure 12 The Advanced Command Unit deployed for the Seveso flood, 2014 .................. 21 

Figure 13 Advanced Command Unit interior ................................................................. 22 

Figure 14 Conference room ....................................................................................... 24 

Figure 15 Outside Workstation ................................................................................... 24 

Figure 16 Touch control panel .................................................................................... 24 

Figure 17 The galley ................................................................................................. 25 

Figure 18 Irvine Police Department Mobile Command & Control Vehicle .......................... 26 

Figure 19 Different perspectives of the mobile shelter ................................................... 29 

Figure 20 The mobile shelter floorplan ........................................................................ 29 

Figure 21 The mobile shelter deployment .................................................................... 29 

Figure 22 Example of internal organization .................................................................. 30 

Figure 23 Fictional briefing: the users look at maps created in augmented reality, the pointer 
itself is virtual .......................................................................................................... 37 

41 

 
 
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doi:10.2788/287766 

43 

ISBN 978-92-79-57667-6