This is only a test…Alabama leverages satellite to provide emergency alerts

“This is a test of the emergency alert system…this is only a test.”

We’ve heard that high pitched noise on the radio or TV for as long as most of us can remember. But likely unknown to most is that until just recently these tests have been conducted by states and localities alone, and were not integrated at the federal level. At least some level of government has had a way to inform the public should an emergency arise.

But this is all changing before our eyes. New digital satellite technology is displacing the old analog daisy-chain method of relaying emergency information, while simultaneously the federal government has mandated a multi-media process to maximize its dissemination to everyone.    

Today, as evidenced by Alabama’s new GSSNet/Alert Studio, several states and localities have progressed significantly by employing digital satellite services to help enable a far more sophisticated form of their Emergency Alert Systems. In fact, Alabama adopted the federal government’s Common Alert Protocol (CAP) -- a digital XML-based data format for sharing and distributing emergency information.

Leveraging a CAP system enables the President to address the public via multi-media applications, including road signs, cell phones, iPhones, other smart phones, reverse 911, TV and radio -- should a disaster occur. Since the CAP message is digital, audio quality is vastly improved. State and local governments no longer need to rely on the daisy chain approach because of the power of satellite communications to relay an emergency alert. Satellite communications are ubiquitous, transmitting to everyone at the same time.

The state rolled out its GSSNet/Alert Studio CAP-EAS system in July, 2011 -- well in advance of the nationwide test. Developed and operated by Global Security Systems (“GSS”), the new system includes both the Alert Studio message origination portal and the GSSNet satellite data delivery capability, leveraging a combination of the Hughes nationwide satellite service and terrestrial technologies to disseminate messages.

Going digital meant making a lot of changes. All broadcasters had to install a new EAS box to encode and decode messages to process CAP alert messages. “The biggest problem we had with the old system was to get the message together and disseminate it to everyone,” said Larry Wilkins, chairman of the Alabama State Emergency Communications Committee (SECC). “Under the old system, when an emergency alert was created, it wouldn’t be pushed to the public at the same time. A dispatcher used to have to read it.”

Today, the process is more reliable and faster. It works like this: When an alert is created and aggregated, meaning the sender can select where the message will be sent – for example, statewide, county or regional -- in the Alert Studio application, the message is sent via the Hughes nationwide satellite broadband service to the GSSNet satellite delivery system. The CAP message is then disseminated to radio and television broadcasters, via the satellite delivery network, into the EAS decoder. The individual broadcaster’s EAS decoder reads the text across the air. 

The GSS Alert Studio portal can create and retrieve alerts in multiple formats, including MP3 files and live recorded messages, that are disseminated on a national, regional or local basis to receivers of AM, FM and HD radio signals.

Why use satellite? “We avoid the hassles of the Internet, firewalls and configuration issues.  Often the Internet can get congested. Using a satellite system with Internet back-up was the best way to go for reliability,” said Wilkins.

An additional advantage is that messages can now be generated remotely and transmitted from anywhere in the field using Hughes satellite technology, instead of just at the Emergency Operations Center or the Department of Public Safety. 

“Now, Alabama has a dedicated network,” said Matthew Straeb, executive vice president for Global Security Systems. “With the GSS Alert Studio, broadcasters receive the information directly from the system. I go around and program these units and by the time I click the send button on their alert studio page and toggle over to the box, it is already there. It goes from me, to the server to the uplink to the end users.” 

“Alabama is definitely a leader in EAS and CAP. Our satellite-based system is ready to provide alert information to the public as quickly as possible to as many people as possible,” added Wilkins.

Thanks to Alabama’s pro-active adoption of new satellite technology and coordinated information dissemination, they have developed a modern model of how best to do EAS nationwide, making the old analog audio way a soon-to-be distant memory.