Radio sciences and disaster management

Abstract Radio communication and observation services are critical at all levels of disaster management. Among the programmes to be introduced to reduce the impact of natural and human induced disasters, potential transfers from basic research in radio science to research in disaster management are examined. Two specific aspects are studied: (i) the transfer of image processing techniques, developed in other contexts, to risk management; and (ii) the use of knowledge gathered on the effects of variations in the space environment on trans-ionospheric propagation, to gauge the interest of integrating those effects into the exploitation of communications and observation systems. Four families of image processing techniques are shown to be particularly useful to the disaster manager: zoning, counting of objects, roads and network detection, and damage assessment resulting from a series of different radiometric and geometric methods. A brief review of the effects of ionospheric variations on radio propagation up to a few GHz shows both the potential impacts of those variations on communication systems and the importance of introducing ionospheric corrections into several observation services.