A Secure Dynamic Data Aggregation System for Citizen Safety in Emergency Response Scenarios

Nowadays, there is an increasing need to expedite the response to emergencies, such as natural disasters, crime scenes, and accidents. Thus, it is important to come up with response systems that assist in disaster relief operations. Information aggregated from these systems have to be timely and accurate so that informed decisions are taken to properly guide responses. Examples include response to fire or a car accident. In this research we show the design and implementation of a secure system which gives citizens the capability to report information to a specific station through the use of their cell phones. Any citizen registered to the service has the capability to report incidents using photos and text. In order to avoid false or malicious reporting, the system combines user and phone authentication, geolocation, and time stamping, among other attributes. The system automatically records and categorizes text and images on a map based on geographic coordinates. This system provides higher safety and security for citizens as well as a quick and efficient way to aggregate intelligence. Further, it can be utilized in scenarios where there is a need to allow multiple mobile agents (e.g., researchers) collect information over a widespread area (e.g., forest explorations).