FEMA, NPR Starting in December Pilot for Deaf to Get EAS Alerts by Radio
The Federal Emergency Management Agency and NPR will start a two-month pilot test in December to broadcast entire emergency alert system messages to the hearing impaired using a first-of-its-kind EAS radio receiver, said the radio programmer and advocates for the deaf in interviews. They said that under a $360,000 contract from FEMA parent, the Department of Homeland Security, NPR has enough money for 25 member stations in five Gulf Coast states to run simulations in December and January. The contract was disclosed in February (http://n.pr/HhTmj7). The system incorporates elements of FEMA’s newer Integrated Public Alert and Warning System that gathers EAS messages written in a newer Internet friendly Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) format and uses IPAWS to deliver the messages to stations through NPR’s satellite system of sending programming to noncommercial stations.
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About 475 people in the listening areas of the 25 NPR stations participating in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas will get at no cost to them a special radio receiver that receives the alert originating in CAP from local, state or federal EAS alert originators, said Rich Rarey, NPR Labs manager-strategic technology applications. He said he wrote a piece of software that polls the IPAWS alert portal, gets alerts for the areas covered by the pilot and sends them via the Public Radio Satellite System to the participating stations. Those broadcasters will get an IDC Corp. satellite receiver, separate from the satellite receiver they use to get regular programming from PRSS, to receive the EAS alerts, said Rarey.
The stations will use firmware from broadcast equipment manufacturer Jump2Go that encodes the warnings for radio data system transmission over analog FM in the subcarrier that can also be used to send artist and title information about music and the like, said Rarey. “We can have more control and manage the program better” by using a separate receiver from regular NPR programming at the stations, he said. “If there’s something wrong and they need to take off and reboot the receiver” getting the EAS messages, “it won’t affect their live operations,” he said.
The import of the test is that those who can’t hear can learn of weather and other disaster and emergency alerts via a radio that shakes their bed if they are sleeping or blinks bright LED lights to get their attention, said Rarey and some deaf advocates whose groups are seeking participants. Those taking part will also get a tablet, which will connect to the receiver by a USB cable and serve as the visual display, said Rarey. “The receivers can display the alert message through the receiver’s display, and the participants can connect a strobe light or bed-shaker alerting device to the receiver, helping ensure alerts are noticed day and night,” said the agency in a news release Monday evening (http://1.usa.gov/18cGzoe). The agency hopes “the data and experiences gained from the demonstration will be used to help improve this specialized technology,” said Damon Penn, assistant administrator for FEMA’s National Continuity Programs Directorate.
Alerts can run as long as 4,000 characters, said Rarey. He and deaf advocates said that’s considerably more than the 100 or so limit for emergency alerts sent to cellphones via another IPAWS system. “FEMA has been working with numerous public and private industry stakeholders to ensure that emergency alerts can be delivered simultaneously through multiple communications pathways,” said the agency. “The National Weather Service uses IPAWS to send Wireless Emergency Alerts to participating cell phone carriers, who sends the alerts to cell phones.”
The FCC commends “efforts to ensure that people with disabilities are able to receive emergency alerts,” said a spokeswoman. It looks “forward to learning the results of this pilot,” she said. FEMA had no comment for this story.
Catena Radio Design helped NPR Labs write an open data application for the alerts, and is making the receivers, said Rarey. The receiver’s purpose is to deliver long-form text to a device connected to it by USB cable, and the receiver and tablet cost about $100 to provide, he said. The receiver could “plug into any device that you care to write the application for,” he said. “Nobody has really thought about using long-form radio for broadcast text messages.” Everything that’s “encoded with the CAP message” about the duration of alerts and other characteristics can be read by the receiver, “so I can give the user more information more quickly,” said Rarey.
The pilot’s goal is to have the system ready to use for actual EAS alerts for next year’s hurricane season, said Rarey. That would require more funding, after a “minor miracle” of being able to get the receivers and tablets for only $100 each, so it “would be ideal” to get money in time for hurricane season, he said. Other next steps would include considering whether to have more public radio stations participate, he said. Commercial stations aren’t part of the effort, Rarey said, as the pilot uses PRSS that serves noncommercial outlets. NAB declined to comment.
NPR and hearing impaired advocacy groups said they're trying to locate volunteers within the coverage area of the stations. “We're reaching out to the deaf and hard of hearing groups, who have already put the word out in the listserv, even before we're ready,” said Rarey. “We have started to receive handfuls of emails asking to be a volunteer participant in this.” NPR is setting up a system to get an even distribution of participants among stations, he said. FEMA and NPR said stations taking part include the University of Alabama trustees’ WBHM(FM) Birmingham; WPBI(FM) West Palm Beach, Fla., University of New Orleans’ WWNO(FM) and University of Texas’s KUT(FM) Austin.
There seems to be ready-made demand among those with problems hearing to take part, said some advocates. “I had people jumping to say ‘yes,’ they would really like it, they want to test it,” said Hearing Loss Association of America Public Policy Director Lise Hamlin. “It’s an enormous advance if it all works the way it’s supposed to.” She sees opportunities to use the technology to build a written record of any radio program, and a way to archive the shows. Hamlin said the pilot invoked an earlier test by NPR of captioning regular radio programming: “That whole concept of captioned radio was really intriguing, but to have it for emergency services is even better.”
Those with hearing problems can see EAS alerts on TV, where captions can be incorrect or have other problems, said a spokesman for Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, which also is recruiting volunteers in the FEMA and NPR test. Highway signs and cellphone alerts are also options for the hearing impaired, he said. “There are people who would really enjoy it,” he said of the radio alerts. “It’s better to be safe than sorry. The more avenues we can give people to get warnings, it’s just a blessing.” -- Jonathan Make (jmake@warren-news.com)