Overview

Research-Initiatives

NICER Networked Infrastructureless Cooperation for Emergency Response

Crises, disasters and major catastrophic events are triggered by the forces of nature, human or technical failure or violence and terrorism. They present a threat to human life, public safety in the area concerned and interregional economics. Technical infrastructures are damaged or destroyed.

The LOEWE research cluster NICER (Networked Infrastructureless Cooperation for Emergency Response) is exploring how infrastructureless information and communications technology can establish links between people in the event of a crisis, thus enabling them to work together to overcome the crisis.

To that end, NICER focuses on three main research areas: (1) setting up autonomous, decentralised and robust “communication islands”, (2) constructing “communication bridges” between communication islands and (3) operating an “overall network” of services and applications to enable cooperation in the crisis situation.

For the areas referred to above, NICER is developing basic scientific and technological principles with a view to bringing about a dramatic increase in the long-term performance of infrastructurless communication. Where large-scale, complex damage has been caused and despite infrastructure collapse, NICER thus enables cooperation to take place between the people directly affected as well as between those people and the rescue workers and technical rescue and relief systems, such as rescue robots.

LOEWE Research Cluster

Partners

  • Technische Universität Darmstadt
  • University of Kassel
  • Philipps-Universität Marburg

Fields of study

  • Informatics
  • Electrical Engineering and Information Technology

Funding period

Since 2015

Project Coordinator

  • Prof. Dr. Matthias Hollick,

  • Prof. Dr. Max Mühlhäuser,
    Technische Universität Darmstadt

Locations

  • Darmstadt
  • Kassel
  • Marburg

More Information

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