Satellite role in emergency services

This paper describes the SALICE (Satellite-Assisted LocalIzation and Communication systems for Emergency services) project, an Italian National Research Project which has been recently funded by the Italian Ministry of Research; the SALICE project aims at identifying the solutions which can be adopted in an integrated reconfigurable NAV/COM device and studying its feasibility in realistic scenarios. The first goal of the SALICE project is the definition of the baseline scenarios and system architecture which will allow the design of new and effective solutions for what concerns integrated communications and localization techniques, Software Defined Radio (SDR) NAV/COM devices, satellite and HAPS integration in the rescue services, heterogeneous solutions in the area of intervention (IAN, Incident Area Network). Particular attention will be devoted to the optimization of the resources management strategies and to the cooperative localization of rescue entities (persons and means) that intervene in emergency situations.