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This is Only A Test

“This Is A Test Of The Emergency Broadcast System. This Is Only A Test.”

A new Digital Emergency Alert System, which uses digital television signals to send emergency messages to PCs and cell phones, was demonstrated in Washington, D.C. this week. The system, developed by the Association of Public Television Stations in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency is still in the plot stage, but could be up and running by the end of 2007.

The new system broadcasts messages via satellite and local public television stations across the country, which then datacast the message to television stations, cable service providers, satellite radio and wireless carriers nationwide.

Although it has the capabilities to go to cell phones and other mobile devices, details are still being worked out. Calling millions of cellular users nearly simulateously with alert messages is the tricky bit.

In this week’s demonstration, a test alert was sent from FEMA to PBS using the Common Alerting Protocol, an open standard for exchanging hazard warnings and reports. It was then uplinked to the PBS satellite and received by public TV stations across the country. WETA, in D.C., datacast the message over its DTV transmitter. That message was received on a PC at the WETA headquarters using an antenna/tuner on the PC to receive the signal and commercial software to decode and display it.

The audio that WETA datacast was also sent to XM Radio’s heaquarters, uplinked to their satellite and received on XM radios at the demonstration. The messages were also sent to cell phones and Blackberries, through the use of Alert Manager, a proprietary software technology developed by SpectraRep, a Chantilly, Va.-based developer of broadcast datacasting solutions.

The new system is designed to replace the aging broadcast Emergency Alert System, which the FCC wants to update. Under the new Digital EAS, voice and text messages will be sent to wireless phones. Highway message boards — the same ones that notify travelers of an Amber Alert or a traffic backup — will be able to carry warnings as well.

Only the president can order a national emergency alert. The system was initially designed to warn Americans of a nuclear attack, but President Bush last month ordered Homeland Security to extend the alert “for situations of war, terrorist attack, natural disaster or other hazards to public safety and well-being.”

The Emergency Alert System was never used during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but the independent commission that investigated them concluded that “adequate communications” are central to government and private-sector preparedness.

The Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP), such as the one in Umatilla, Oregon, currently uses dedicated VHF (150-170 MHz) and UHF (850-870 MHz) radios with a voice alert. The OnAlert radio receivers can also link to Public Address Systems and Strobe Lights.

Reception using 150/850 Mhz radios would likely work better than the FCC-mandated 8-VSB (ATSC) Digital Television system, of course. Digital tv reception in the U.S. generally requires a rooftop antenna.

Overall, the new warning system is expected to cost $5.5 million to test and deploy nationally, and $1 million annually to maintain. It will be rolled out to the public and emergency responders in stages, beginning in Gulf Coast states and later in major cities.

Public broadcasting provides the most ubiquitous broadcast coverage in the United States. However, ATSC reduces the utility of their network for datacasting. Datacasting could have used state-wide microwave networks and local PBS stations for reliable, unbiquitous indoor coverage (with a DVB-T system). Now, thanks to the FCC’s short sightedness and the ATSC’s gang of four, commercial WiMAX may fill that void.

Of course PBS is getting free money to test it — so they’re not complaining. But is it just posturing?

A working system would be the real test. There’s some question whether modified ATSC receivers are up to the task. And who would buy them? A real solution may require cell phones or mobile WiMAX.