Attending the workshop on communications in extreme environments

In November 2023, I had the opportunity to attend the workshop on “Communications in Extreme Environments for Science and Sustainability” held in Trieste, Italy. The workshop was organized by our partner organization, the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP).
The workshop brought together researchers and practitioners who shared ideas and experiences on building resilient communication networks, leveraging the low-power Internet of Things, and exploring advanced technologies and protocols for offline connectivity. We explored how 6G networks, new forms of satellite communications, terrestrial networks, and underground communications can help connect unconnected people, areas, and devices to the Internet. Workshops on “Delay Tolerant Networks” and Lora mesh provided hands-on skills and new tools to consider in future communication projects.

We shared our experience in using the Internet of Things and LoRaWAN technologies for climate monitoring and early warning in mountainous areas. The two-year project aimed to study how LoRaWAN and Lora-enabled devices, combined with open source solutions, can be used in extreme climate conditions and mountainous areas to monitor natural disasters such as mudflows, landslides, glacial lake outbursts, and assist decision makers in mitigating the consequences.
There are more than 4,000 lakes in the Kyrgyz Republic, mostly formed by glaciers and located at an altitude of 2,500 to 4,000 meters. Currently, there are about 5,000 active landslides registered in the country. Over the past 30 years, 593 landslide events have been recorded in Kyrgyzstan. Based on the collected data, we plan to apply some open AI models to forecast natural disasters in rough mountainous terrains similar to Kyrgyzstan.