Regulators are reviewing satellites’ relation to the Emergency Alert System and E-911 requirements. At the FCC, the International Bureau Satellite Division and the Enforcement Bureau Office of Homeland Security recently met with DBS and satellite radio firms to discuss the feasibility of satellite participating in the Emergency Alert System (EAS). Separately, the Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NRIC) is reviewing long term issues for E-911 services, including whether E-911 requirements can be extended to satellite telephony. Both reviews are addressing satellite system design’s uniqueness relative to the terrestrial infrastructure, and difficulties involved in extending emergency requirements to the skies.
Public TV’s programming distribution system is set to get a $120 million facelift as its 350-plus stations shift to digital transmission. A new pact between PBS and the Corp. for Public Bcstg. will free $50 million Congress appropriated for public TV’s “Next Generation Interconnection System” (NGIS) to replace and upgrade the PBS programming delivery infrastructure.
The Homeland Security Dept. (DHS) has extended the Assn. of Public TV Stations (APTS)-led digital emergency alert system (DEAS) pilot by 6 months after the “resounding success” of the first phase, APTS Pres. John Lawson said. DHS and APTS signed an agreement for a DEAS pilot in the D.C. area to show how public TV’s digital infrastructure could be used to send EAS messages to the public and TVs, radios, personal computers, phones and wireless networks (CD Sept 29/2004 p7).
XM’s acquisition of WCS Wireless last week for $200 million in a stock transaction added new bandwidth to old arguments between satellite radio and the NAB. The 2 sides have long been at odds over how much satellite can localize its service. The latest round of debate is over what XM should be able to do with its new WCS spectrum.
Lingo, a travel product maker, has developed a National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather alert and emergency radio that automatically activates for emergency broadcast even when turned off. The AM/FM digital radio scans all 7 NOAA weather radio channels while monitoring the Emergency Alert System, the company said.
Congress should earmark $16-20 million to finish developing and testing uniform communication standards and a national directory of emergency contacts, said the National Emergency & Alerting Response Systems (NEARS). All emergency organizations could use those contacts to share data over the Internet and wireless, landline and broadcast networks, said NEARS, a private partnership of emergency service and telecom and IT organizations. To date, the technology has been developed by nonprofit industry groups.
Several public safety entities have launched an initiative to improve information sharing and interoperability among public safety agencies. The National Emergency Alerting & Response Systems (NEARS) initiative needs $18 million in funding to create standards, technology and a directory giving large and small agencies information about emergencies. Partners of the NEARS program include the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA), the Fraternal Order of Police, the Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) and the ComCare Alliance, which advocates for communications technology for health and safety agencies. Officials at the launch said they would try to find federal funding for NEARS, probably cobbling together a funding package from different agencies or varying grant programs within an agency. The program’s centerpiece is ComCare’s Emergency Provider Access Directory (EPAD), which will be a comprehensive contact list for safety agencies. Officials ran a demonstration of EPAD on Tues. that included 24 states and several federal agencies. Officials said the NEARS system should help resolves some conflicts among safety agencies that have hobbled efforts at increased interoperability. “The project is not intended to resolve all local turf battles,” said Barry Luke, Orange County (Fla.) deputy chief-fire communication. “Those walls are eroding slowly, partly because of the need for information sharing.” Luke said 5% of agencies always will be reluctant to share information. Officials said the technology developed to support NEARS can be built atop legacy systems. Officials said once funding is in hand the system would take 12 months to become operational.
Wireless technology will play an increasingly important role in homeland security, FCC and industry officials agreed at a panel discussion during the CTIA show in New Orleans late Tues. But they said hurdles stood in the way of resolving many spectrum and other problems.
The International Cellular Emergency Alert Systems Assn. (CEAS) announced formation of the international Working Group for Advance Warnings to create early warning systems for major natural disasters. The group, consisting of major telecom firms and regulatory bodies, will develop and deploy a global early warning system to alert and advise “citizens-at-risk” of impending disasters via cellular broadcast messaging technology. CEAS said the group at first would be “limited to the dissemination of seismic event warning generated by the proposed United Nations tsunami warning program.” But CEAS said it could expand its brief to include an early warning system for “all manmade and natural disaster events.” Members include Science Applications International Corp., VeriSign, LogicaCMG, CellCast Communications, Microsoft Map Point and the Cell Broadcast Forum.
T-Mobile announced successful receipt and retransmission of emergency alert messages to select wireless phones, in a pilot study to improve the nation’s emergency alert system (EAS). The company said it and other service providers, including Cingular and Nextel, had joined with the Dept. of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which manages the national EAS system, to work on the pilot. The pilot program, called the Digital Emergency Alert System, last week tested a series of messages in the National Capitol Region, T-Mobile said. It said the pilot was to demonstrate how the federal govt. can use the digital public TV network to deliver emergency alerts to wireless phones, handheld devices and personal computers, including via text messaging. Pilot project participants also include the Assn. of Public TV stations and PBS. “Once the tests are completed, participants will share their technical results with FEMA,” which will “use this information to determine how and whether to proceed with an upgrade of the national EAS system,” T-Mobile said.