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

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%.