Design and Demonstration of a Near Cloud System for Digital Education and Disaster Resiliency

• Main Author: Mercado, Neil Angelo
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2020
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/theses-dissertations/420
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

This research stems from the recognition of the importance of holistic and comprehensive disaster preparedness and risk reduction management especially in the context of a disaster-prone country like the Philippines. Natural disasters such as typhoons, earthquakes, and flood are unavoidable but can be mitigated. In this paper, the researcher presented an approach to an easily deployable, efficient, and resilient wireless mesh network of Near Cloud System. This low-cost and low-powered caching architecture was developed in the context of disaster resiliency and designed as an aid in disaster planning and preparedness and served as a relay of intelligent information and provided valuable contents to its users not only during disaster, but also for post-disaster and everyday use. As part of Ateneo Innovation Center's multiplatform resilient communication and information system, the Near Cloud system was deployed during university-wide emergency drill and in a real disaster scenario, proven successful for immediate disaster response, survivor, and victim location, and saving lives. The system was also used as a platform for education for off-grid and far-flung school communities where communication infrastructure are sometimes weak or unavailable since it was preloaded with terabyte worth of media content on its terabyte drives, making way for an alternative e-learning environment. The proponent proposed the use of interactive digital signage in field operations to assist in search and reunification of families.