Reduction of communication demand under disaster congestion using control to change human communication behavior without direct restriction

doi:10.1016/j.comnet.2018.01.049

Computer Networks

Volume 134, 7 April 2018, Pages 105-115

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2018.01.049 Get rights and content

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Abstract

When a disaster strikes, many people make calls to their loved ones in the affected area. As a result, telephone networks become congested, making it difficult for people to contact each other. This congestion continues in the aftermath of a large-scale disaster. The sooner the congestion is eased, the sooner and easier people can contact each other. We accomplish this by reducing communication demand without directly restricting call duration. We propose a congestion control method, called the road space rationing (RSR) method (RSR was originally designed for transportation and restricts access to congested areas on the basis of the last digit of a vehicle’s license plate or license number). Our RSR method only restricts the period in which to make a call on the basis of the last digits of calling parties’ phone numbers (e.g., only people with phone numbers ending in 1 can make calls between XX:06 and XX:12). It not only avoids restricting the overall number of calling parties but also prompts people to reduce their call duration consciously despite it being unrestricted. It thus has a mechanism to change human communication behavior without directly restricting call duration. This consciously willed reduction is effective against disaster congestion because there are no redials to the same called parties. This reduction in call duration in turn decreases congestion. Experimental results revealed that the RSR method reduced call duration by 30%.

Keywords

Reduction of communication demand

Disaster congestion

Human behavior

Call duration

Road space rationing

Cited by (0)

Daisuke Satoh received his B.E. and M.E. degrees in electronics and communication engineering in 1992 and 1994 and his Ph.D. in information and computer science in 2002 from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. He joined NTT in 1994 and is currently working as a senior research engineer at NTT Network Technology Laboratories. His research interests include teletraffic issues, software reliability, and discrete analysis. He received the Best Author Award from JSIAM in 2011 and the Best Presentation Award at the 79th annual Convention of the Japanese Psychological Association in 2016. Dr. Satoh is a member of IEICE, JSIAM, and ORSJ.

Yuji Takano received a B.A. and M.A. in literature from Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo, in 2002 and 2004 and a Ph.D. in psychology from Senshu University, Kanagawa, in 2010. In 2010, he joined NTT, where he has since been researching the biological basis of sociality. He was involved in the CREST funding program of the Japan Science and Technology Agency from 2010 to 2015. His research interests include social psychology and neuroscience. Since 2015, he has been an associate professor at the Center for Baby Science, Doshisha University. He is a member of the Japanese Psychological Association, Japan Neuroscience Society, and Japanese Medical Society of Alcohol and Addiction Studies.

Ryunosuke Sudo received B.P. and M.P. degrees in psychology in 2012 and 2014 from Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo. Since 2015, he has been studying psychology for a doctorate at the Department of Systems Life Sciences at Kyushu University, Fukuoka. His research interests include decision-making during disasters. He received the Best Presentation Award at the 79th annual Convention of the Japanese Psychological Association in 2016. He is a member of the Japanese Psychological Association.

Takemi Mochida received a B.E. and M.E. in electrical engineering from Waseda University, Tokyo, in 1992 and 1994 and a Ph.D. in systems information science from Future University-Hakodate, Hokkaido, in 2011. In 1994, he joined NTT, where he has since been researching speech science. He was involved in the CREST funding program of the Japan Science and Technology Agency from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2014 to present. His research interests include sensorimotor mechanisms of speech. He is a member of Society for Neuroscience, the Acoustical Society of America, the Japan Neuroscience Society, the Acoustical Society of Japan, and the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers.