PROJECT CHORIST

CHORIST = integrating Communications for enHanced envirOnmental RISk management and citizens safeTy

  • Framework:
    • Co-funded by the European Commission
    • Programme: FP6 (2002-2006)
    • Thematic priority / domain: IST (Information Society Technologies)
  • Figures:
    • Consortium: 16 members, from 8 European countries
    • Period: 1 June 2006 - 31 July 2009 (3 years & 2 months)
    • Budget: 12 890 000 €
    • EC funding: 7 089 000 €
Partner map

The CHORIST life form:

All living organisms - from the worm to the human - monitor their environment with their senses, decide on the appropriate behaviour to adopt, and finally move, eat, hide, sing, reproduce, sleep in accordance with what their senses tell them. There is one rule: the more advanced the intelligence, the more advanced have to be the senses and the complexities and consequences of the action.

This "Monitor-Decide-Act" scheme, common in Nature, has been imitated by the 17 European partners from the CHORIST project team when they addressed, between 2006 and 2009, the early warning of natural and industrial disasters. Reducing the damage borne by the population after these events has been translated into providing telecommunication tools and information technologies to authorities, in their duty to protect people during major catastrophes.

Sensing the environment, delivering a picture allowing more informed decision making, warning the population and finally deploying field radio tools to manage the incident: these are some of the concepts taken from Nature which inspired the three modules which in turn were developed, integrated, tested in the laboratory and in the field with the Civil Protection authorities. In summary, they are:

  • Module 1 (Situation Awareness) provides an overall real-time picture of events with an assessment of the consequences on the population and on property. This Common Operational Picture (COP) is enhanced with an alert level which assists authorities to make more informed decisions.
  • Module 2 (Warning the population) allows authorities to warn the population in a matter of minutes through several media in parallel (sirens, digital radio, digital TV and GSM cell-broadcast technology).
  • Module 3 (Rapidly deployable PMR systems) allows both field rescue and support teams in control rooms to get more information on the situation. TETRA TEDS and broadband mesh networks aided by WiFi extensions allow the rapid transfer of images, maps, large files…

Though still in its infancy, technology is progressing by following Nature’s concepts for the benefit of mankind.