Survey – GEXTRECS

Questionnaire on user needs and requirements
for GOVSATCOM services in extreme emergencies

The survey is targeting participants of the BULGARIA 2025 Exercise who are directly involved in crisis response at national, regional or local level. It also applies to non-governmental aid and humanitarian organisations, which could use GOVSATCOM services to coordinate operations in disaster-stricken areas. Questions included in the survey have been selected in such a way as to enable the definition of users’ requirements and expectations of a secure end-to-end SATCOM service in the context of extreme and mass crisis situations.

The survey is deployed as part of the GEXTRECS project, funded by the EU under the Horizon Europe programme. Participation in the survey is voluntary. Completed surveys will be processed anonymously. No personal or sensitive data is collected through the survey.

Does your organisation use satellite communications (SATCOM) during emergency response?

Yes
No
I don't know

Is your organisation prepared to use secure SATCOM services (e.g. sufficient expertise, equipment, procedures or previous experience)?

Yes
No
I don't know

What (additional) support would be needed for your organisation to use secure SATCOM services?

What telecommunication services do you use during disaster response?

Voice communication
Web-meetings / video conferencing
Real-time video streaming from deplyed teams and devices on-the-move
Transmission of high-resolution images to the crisis management centre and deployed coordination centres
High-speed communication, e.g. live signal to public media
Low-data rate communication for monitoring distributed devices / equipment
Remote and secure access to specific IT systems (e.g. database)
Internet connections for citizens (email, messages / chats and social media)

What is the maximum bandwidth required by your organisation to optimally execute response actions?

< 0,1 Mb/s (Text messaging, compressed voice communication)
< 1 Mb/s (Voice communication, compressed video communication)
1-5 Mb/s (SD video transmission, standard file transfer speed)
5-10 Mb/s (UHD video transmission, video conferencing for up to 10 users)
10-25 Mb/s (4K video transmission, video conferencing for several dozen users, transmission of high-definition materials)

What is the maximum acceptable activation time for the communication service via a satellite for your organisation?

Does a 0.5-second delay in getting a response after sending the request (caused by delay in the communication system) really matter to your response operations?

Yes
No
I don't know

telecommunication How would

If yes, for what telecommunication services would you need a communication service with latency below 0.5 seconds?

How important is a stable and guaranteed communciation connection for your operations?

High quality of service is required at the time
Minimal drops in service quality are acceptable
I don't know

What connectivity coverage do you require in your operations?

Spot (e.g. specific country only)
Regional (e.g. Europe)
Global

How important is it to keep the information and data transmitted by your organisation safe from those who shouldn’t have access to it?

Low importance (Most of the information and data that we exchange is not sensitive and could be shared publicly without concern.)
Medium importance (We have to balance between the need for rapid, open coordination and the need to protect sensitive data, operations, and individuals.)
High importance (Unauthorised access could potentially result in severe or catastrophic harm to an individual or organisation.)

How significant is it for the information and data transmitted by your organisation to remain completely unchanged and unaltered?

Low significance (Minor errors or changes would have little or no impact on response efforts.)
Medium significance (Some inaccuracies could slow down or complicate coordination, but the response can continue.)
High significance (Information integrity is essential to effective response. Failure could endanger lives or severely disrupt operations.)

To what extent would short outages in connectivity disturb your response operations, in reference to the proposed values of service availability?

Low (We can handle the connection being down for some 30 minutes within a 24-hour window, which represents > 98% of service availability.)
Medium (We can tolerate the connection being down for some 7 minutes within a 24-hour period, which represents ~ 99,5% of service availability.)
High (We need a strong and dependable connection all the time, which represents > 99,5% of service availability.)

What other security aspects should be guaranteed by secure satellite communications?

Protection of user location (e.g. SAR teams, medical teams, etc.)
Information & data protection through encryption (Safe encoding)
Controlled access to the SATCOM system (e.g. only by emergency responders and authorised officials)
Protection against jamming and spoofing (Systems can use some mechanisms like changing signals quickly, checking who is sending messages, and watching for any anomality in communications.)
Other

Does your organisation have access to any satellite terminals?

Yes
No
I don't know

How many satellite terminals would your organisation need for a mission?

Up to 2
More than 2
I don't know

How does your organisation currently plan and allocate communication resources for your operations?

Manually (e.g. spreadsheets, e-mails)
Semi-automated tools
Fully automated systems
I don't know

How useful would the automatic allocation of SATCOM resources based on constraints be for your operational needs?

Selected Value: 1

1: Not useful at all, 2: Slightly useful 3: Moderately useful, 4: Very useful, 5: Extremely useful

How useful would the integration with external systems necessary to obtain services be for your operational needs?

Selected Value: 1

1: Not useful at all, 2: Slightly useful 3: Moderately useful, 4: Very useful, 5: Extremelly useful

How useful would the adaptive re-planning based on changes in mission parameters be for your operational needs?

Selected Value: 1

1: Not useful at all, 2: Slightly useful 3: Moderately useful, 4: Very useful, 5: Extremely useful

How useful would alerts for conflicts or unavailability of resources be for your operational needs?

Selected Value: 1

1: Not useful at all, 2: Slightly useful 3: Moderately useful, 4: Very useful, 5: Extremely useful

How useful would the visualization of planned communications be for your operational needs?

Selected Value: 1

1: Not useful at all, 2: Slightly useful 3: Moderately useful, 4: Very useful, 5: Extremely useful

What would prevent you from adopting a digital tool that helps plan and assign SATCOM resources for operations in real time?

Lack of trust in automated decision-making
Complexity of the interface
Insufficient training or documentation
Security or data protection concerns
Uncertainty about its relability in critical missions
Too time-consuming to configure or use
I don't know