Digital Emergency Alert System

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The Digital Emergency Alert System (DEAS) was a system managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and designed to alert first-responders and civilians in the event of a national emergency. It was based upon and supplemented the Emergency Alert System (EAS) by sending out text, voice, video, and other digital messages to mobile phones, pagers, radios, and televisions.

Federal Emergency Management Agency United States disaster response agency, part of Department of Homeland Security

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders on April 1, 1979. The agency's primary purpose is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities. The governor of the state in which the disaster occurs must declare a state of emergency and formally request from the president that FEMA and the federal government respond to the disaster. The only exception to the state's gubernatorial declaration requirement occurs when an emergency or disaster takes place on federal property or to a federal asset—for example, the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, or the Space Shuttle Columbia in the 2003 return-flight disaster.

Emergency Alert System method of emergency broadcasting in the United States

The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national warning system in the United States put into place on January 1, 1997, when it replaced the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), which in turn replaced the CONELRAD System. The official EAS is designed to enable the President of the United States to speak to the United States within 10 minutes. In addition to this requirement, the EAS is also designed to alert the public of local weather emergencies such as tornadoes and flash floods. The most recent National EAS Test was performed on October 3, 2018 at 2:18pm EDT. This test was the second national test of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) systems. This test took place two minutes prior to the main test, at 2:18 pm EDT. The next test date has not been scheduled.

Contents

Although the Emergency Alert System and its predecessor, the Emergency Broadcast System and an even earlier predecessor CONELRAD, have always allowed the transmission of both video and audio, there have been limitations that would be eliminated by the DEAS. For example, the DEAS allowed the ability to broadcast "bottomless" audio messages (i.e. a message with no definite ending) and streaming video. It also allowed near-instantaneous transmission without the delays that occur as EAS alerts trickle through the system. [1]

Emergency Broadcast System former method of emergency broadcasting in the United States

The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), occasionally called the Emergency Broadcasting System and sometimes called the Emergency Action Notification System (EANS), was an emergency warning system used in the United States. It replaced the previous CONELRAD system and was used from 1963 to 1997, at which point it was replaced by the Emergency Alert System.

CONELRAD former method of emergency broadcasting in the United States

CONELRAD was a method of emergency broadcasting to the public of the United States in the event of enemy attack during the Cold War. It was intended to allow continuous broadcast of civil defense information to the public using radio stations, while rapidly switching the transmitter stations to make the broadcasts unsuitable for Soviet bombers that might attempt to home in on the signals.

History

In 2004, Las Vegas' PBS member station, KLVX, was the first station in the United States to demonstrate what digital television has to offer in times of emergency.[ citation needed ]

PBS Public television network in the United States

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor. It is a nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational television programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America's Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Downton Abbey, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, Masterpiece, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Nature, Nova, the PBS NewsHour, Sesame Street, and This Old House.

KLVX

KLVX, virtual channel 10, is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The station is owned by the Clark County School District, and is the flagship member of the district's communications arm, the KLVX Communications Group. KLVX's studios are located at the Vegas PBS Educational Technology Campus in Paradise, and its transmitter is located atop Black Mountain, near Henderson.

In 2010, the DEAS project was terminated in favor of FEMA's IPAWS Open Platform for Emergency Networks (OPEN). IPAWS OPEN is a set of securely hosted Web services that enable the routing of standards-compliant emergency messages between disparate third-party applications, systems, networks and devices. [2] As stated by FEMA, reasons for terminating DEAS included concerns over the stability and reliability of some of the underlying products, and the proprietary nature of many of the systems used within DEAS.

However, responding to a mandate included in the WARN act, FEMA continues to utilize a variant of the DEAS architecture for the Commercial Mobile Alerting System (CMAS), also known as the Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN). [3] In 2007 and 2008, the Federal Communications Commission proposed and adopted the network structure, operational procedures and technical requirements for the Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN) system. It mandates that new cell phones be manufactured with a special chip capable of receiving emergency text messages including alerts issued by the president, information about public safety threats and Amber Alerts for missing children. [4]

Federal Communications Commission independent agency of the United States government

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government created by statute to regulate interstate communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. The FCC serves the public in the areas of broadband access, fair competition, radio frequency use, media responsibility, public safety, and homeland security.

President of the United States Head of state and of government of the United States

The President of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.

See also

The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) is an XML-based data format for exchanging public warnings and emergencies between alerting technologies. CAP allows a warning message to be consistently disseminated simultaneously over many warning systems to many applications, such as Google Public Alerts. CAP increases warning effectiveness and simplifies the task of activating a warning for responsible officials.

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SMS Text messaging service component

SMS is a text messaging service component of most telephone, internet, and mobile-device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols to enable mobile devices to exchange short text messages. An intermediary service can facilitate a text-to-voice conversion to be sent to landlines. SMS was the most widely used data application at the end of 2010, with an estimated 3.5 billion active users, or about 80% of all mobile subscribers.

The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol used for initiating, maintaining, and terminating real-time sessions that include voice, video and messaging applications. SIP is used for signaling and controlling multimedia communication sessions in applications of Internet telephony for voice and video calls, in private IP telephone systems, in instant messaging over Internet Protocol (IP) networks as well as mobile phone calling over LTE (VoLTE).

Emergency position-indicating radiobeacon station A distress radiobeacon, a tracking transmitter that is triggered during an accident

An emergency position-indicating radiobeacon station is a distress radiobeacon, a tracking transmitter that is triggered during an accident. These are detected by satellites. The system is monitored by an international consortium of rescue services, COSPAS-SARSAT. The basic purpose of this system is to help rescuers find survivors within the so-called "golden day" during which the majority of survivors can usually be saved.

Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) is the protocol used to encode the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) in the U.S. and Weatheradio Canada in Canada. It is also used to set off receivers in Mexico City and surrounding areas as part of the Mexican Seismic Alert System (SASMEX).

NOAA Weather Radio YouTube

NOAA Weather Radio is an automated 24-hour network of VHF FM weather radio stations in the United States that broadcast weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Service office. The routine programming cycle includes local or regional weather forecasts, synopsis, climate summaries, synopsis or zone/lake/coastal waters forecasts. During severe conditions the cycle is shortened into: hazardous weather outlooks, short-term forecasts, special weather statements or tropical weather summaries. It occasionally broadcasts other non-weather related events such as national security statements, natural disaster information, environmental and public safety statements sourced from the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Emergency Alert System. NOAA Weather Radio uses automated broadcast technology that allows for the recycling of segments featured in one broadcast cycle seamlessly into another and more regular updating of segments to each of the transmitters. It also speeds up the warning transmitting process.

Mobile telephony collective term for the operation of mobile telephone devices

Mobile telephony is the provision of telephone services to phones which may move around freely rather than stay fixed in one location. Mobile phones connect to a terrestrial cellular network of base stations, whereas satellite phones connect to orbiting satellites. Both networks are interconnected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to allow any phone in the world to be dialed.

Emergency population warning warning issued by authorities to the public en masse

An emergency population warning is a method whereby local, regional, or national authorities can contact members of the public en masse to warn them of an impending emergency. These warnings may be necessary for a number of reasons, including:

Mobile television

Mobile television is television watched on a small handheld or mobile device. It includes pay TV service delivered via mobile phone networks or received free-to-air via terrestrial television stations. Regular broadcast standards or special mobile TV transmission formats can be used. Additional features include downloading TV programs and podcasts from the Internet and storing programming for later viewing.

The National Warning System (NAWAS) is an automated telephone system used to convey warnings to United States-based federal, state and local governments, as well as the military and civilian population. The original mission of NAWAS was to warn of an imminent enemy attack or an actual accidental missile launch upon the United States. NAWAS still supports this mission but the emphasis is on natural and technological disasters. Organizations are able to disseminate and coordinate emergency alerts and warning messages through NAWAS and other public systems by means of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System.

Wireless Emergency Alerts emergency alert system in the United States

Wireless Emergency Alerts, is an alerting network in the United States designed to disseminate emergency alerts to mobile devices such as cell phones and pagers. Organizations are able to disseminate and coordinate emergency alerts and warning messages through WEA and other public systems by means of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System.

Emergency Action Notification American nationwide activation of the Emergency Alert System

An Emergency Action Notification is the national activation of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and can only be activated by the President or the President's representative. The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) also carried the Emergency Action Notification. It has never been used by any President since its creation.

The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) is an architecture that unifies the United States' Emergency Alert System, National Warning System, Wireless Emergency Alerts, and NOAA Weather Radio, under a single platform. IPAWS was designed to modernize these systems by enabling alerts to be aggregated over a network and distributed to the appropriate system for public dissemination.

An emergency communication system (ECS) is any system that is organized for the primary purpose of supporting one-way and two-way communication of emergency information between both individuals and groups of individuals. These systems are commonly designed to convey information over multiple types of devices, from signal lights to text messaging to live, streaming video, forming a unified communication system intended to optimize communications during emergencies. Contrary to emergency notification systems, which generally deliver emergency information in one direction, emergency communication systems are typically capable of both initiating and receiving information between multiple parties. These systems are often made up of both input devices, sensors, and output/communication devices. Therefore, the origination of information can occur from a variety of sources and locations, from which the system will disseminate that information to one or more target audiences.

The Mobile Emergency Alert System (M-EAS) is an information distribution system that utilizes existing digital television spectrum and towers to provide information in emergency situations using rich media. The system can push text, web pages, and video to compatible equipment, such as mobile DTV devices. M-EAS is different than existing 90-character Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) available to cellphones, as it allows video, audio, photos and graphics, too.

OpenBroadcaster

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Alert Ready National alerting system of Canada

The National Public Alerting System, branded as Alert Ready, is the national warning system in Canada. The system consists of infrastructure and standards for the presentation and distribution of public alerts issued by government authorities, such as weather emergencies, AMBER Alerts, and other emergency notifications, by all broadcasters and Last mile distributors in the affected region, including television stations, radio stations, television providers, and LTE mobile networks in the affected region.

Nokia Asha 310

The Nokia Asha 310, also known as the Nokia Asha 3010 or the Nokia ASHA 310 RM-911, was released in March 2013. It is the first in the line of the Asha range of phones to have dual subscriber identity module (SIM) slots and Wi-Fi connectivity. It was a reinvention of the Asha range to remain competitive with new Android devices. It cost $102.00 at its launch date. It has a touchscreen, comes with either a 2 or 4 GB micro SD card, and has 64 MB of RAM, a 2 MP camera and a battery that can last up to 600 hours in standby mode. The phone can play music for up to 54 hours or video for up to 9.5 hours, and has a maximum of 17 hours talk time (2G).

2018 Hawaii false missile alert

On Saturday morning, January 13, 2018, a false ballistic missile alert was issued via the Emergency Alert System and Commercial Mobile Alert System over television, radio, and cellphones in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The alert stated that there was an incoming ballistic missile threat to Hawaii, advised residents to seek shelter, and concluded "This is not a drill". The message was sent at 8:07 a.m. local time. However, no civil defense outdoor warning sirens were authorized or sounded by the state.

References

  1. ↑ Sarkar, Dibya (2005-04-11). "FEMA tests digital alert system - Technology will send messages to wireless devices, radio, TV and the Internet". Federal Computer Week . Archived from the original on 2008-09-07.
  2. ↑ "FEMA: IPAWS Components". Archived from the original on 2 July 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  3. ↑ "PBS WARN Project (Warning, Alert and Response Network)" (PDF). Archived from the original (pdf) on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  4. ↑ Wyatt, Edward (2011-05-09). "Emergency Alert System Expected for Cellphones". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2011-05-15. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
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