HAMPP: A Handheld Assistant for Military and Police Patrols for HA/DR Missions

Abstract

Military and police patrols are an important component of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief missions. These patrols need to access timely, relevant information about events and conditions along their patrol route, both historical, and ongoing. In the current practice, this information is gathered manually prior to the commencement of the patrol through the use of historical databases, current event repositories, and by conducting a review of records that may be relevant to the area to be patrolled. Being manual, this process is fraught with several problems including high-cost, slow-speed and low-reliability. We are developing HAMPP (Handheld Assistant for Military and Police Patrols) to enhance the effectiveness and security of the patrol units and reduce the cost and time required for patrol planning. HAMPP is designed to assist with gathering detailed information about relevant events along the patrol route and alert the patrol unit when they are in the vicinity of these areas during the patrol. In addition, it performs several other activities which relate to the security of the patrol unit. The goal of this paper is to present our system architecture for a device-independent mobile software system that enables planning of the patrol route and linking of related information to that route, and as the patrol starts, tracking the unit’s current location and providing real-time information and alerts about areas of interest along the route of a patrol. Any deviations from the planned route are flagged and alerts sent to the command post.