Multiparty/multimedia conferencing in mobile Ad Hoc networks for improving communications between firefighters

In current practice, the fire-fighters communication system is verbal, using a simplex radio frequency system (walkie-talkie). This system has a flat communication structure, which prevents any private communication among groups of firefighters. In addition, only one fire-fighter is allowed to talk at a time and no other functionalities (e.g. video communications or conferencing) are supported. This paper proposes a new multimedia conferencing system for fire-fighters, which overcomes the current system limitations. The new system is based on Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks, an infrastructure-less and self-organized wireless networks that are suitable for emergency situations. The proposed system has a cluster-based architecture in order to offer more scalability. A proof-of-concept prototype has been implemented and performance have been evaluated and analysed.