Advanced Emergency Alerting for ATSC 3.0 Jay Adrick, AEA IT Chairman GatesAir
Why Advanced Emergency Alerting? We rely on cell phones to run our lives, but they tend to be useless or at least far from useful when we need them most. - Bloomberg BusinessWeek Aftermath of Boston bombing
Sandy s Toll on Telecom Authorities said cell phone traffic was so heavy that it hampered their ability to respond to emergencies
WEA s May Contribute to the Problem
WEA s Are Too Short 90-character WEA messages do not by themselves motivate people to take protective action. Instead, people rely on information provided by others, which can fatally delay response. The study showed a marked increase in the number of people who were checking broadcast media about a developing event once they received a WEA message. Report prepared for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, January 2015
Advanced Emergency Alerting Next step in robust delivery of emergency information to the public Developed from work by the Mobile-EAS coalition and the ATSC M-EAS Implementation Team as demonstrated in numerous public venues An application using the robust capabilities that are part of ATSC 3.0.next generation DTV now in development
Opportunity for Broadcasters Provide a more robust and reliable public warning and safety information communications system..independent of cellular network congestion Leverage broadcaster s major role as public information provider with disaster-resistant facilities Offload data and video traffic during times of emergency to preserve LTE for what is does best point-to-point voice communications
Opportunity for Broadcasters Enhance the stations brand for weather, essential information and public service in times of emergency Provide a pipeline for extensive information beyond simple text, for disaster preparation and aftermath in addition to acute warnings Create public policy support for transitioning to ATSC 3.0 and unlocking mobile devices for broadcast TV reception
Replacing or Supplementing EAS? Public warning is a creature of regulation and gov t oversight U.S. FCC EAS Rules 47 CFR Part 11 FSK EAS Schema Operational requirements Equipment requirements IPAWS CAP Profile v1.2 Canada Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2014-444 Canadian CAP implementation schema U.S. CAP implementation schema ECIG Implementation Guide v1.0 U.S. CAP to EAS translation and presentation guidelines 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act FCC requirement to convert displayed emergency info (excl. EAS) into audio, and play on secondary audio SOREM CAP-CP v1.0 NPAS Common Look and Feel Guidelines v1.0 Canadian alert presentation guidelines Other nations as well
U.S. EAS Protocol 90%+ of all U.S. EAS alerts will continue to use conventional EAS protocol The one mandatory alert message (EAN) will use conventional EAS FCC Part 11 EAS Protocol specification: Frequency Shift Key (FSK) tones followed by audio EOM EAS HEADERS TWO-TONE ATTENTION SIGNAL Alert Message Audio FSK SIGNAL, APPROXIMATELY ONE SECOND PREAMBLE SYNC CODE WHO WHAT WHERE ORIGINATOR ID EVENT CODE LOCATION CODE WHEN EVENT DURATION UTC TIME STAMP WHO STATION ID
Common Alerting Protocol CAP = a structured XML file simple in concept / complex in execution Adopted by US, Canada and numerous other countries Comprises a number of required and optional elements e.g. those to recreate an EAS protocol message May include an audio (voice) file, but often does not The CAP standard is accompanied by country-specific formats: US IPAWS CAP Profile v1.0 and ECIG v1.0 Canada CAP-CP v1.0 and CLF v1.0 Other countries as well
U.S.: What is required inputs Must monitor at least two EAS sources, PLUS, must monitor IPAWS for CAP some states have created their own CAP monitoring sources EAS Participants configure their EAS devices to monitor the IPAWS EAS Feed local location/fips codes for the participating station what alerts they will broadcast in accordance with local and state agreements/policies the IPAWS EAS Feed URL (could also monitor a state or local CAP alert server) EAS devices poll the EAS feed for relevant active alerts fitting the stations profile Appropriate Alerts are retrieved and broadcast in accordance with the State EAS Plan and any agreements with local officials
U.S.: What is required outputs 1. 2. 3. 4. Must issue EAS header tones TV must encode ( stamp ) certain info on rebroadcast of EAS (station ID). LPTV decode only doesn t need to stamp station ID Attention signal (optional in some cases/mandatory in others) Display alert Audio of the alert (up to 2 minutes, except for the unlimited EAN) Visual display of message - shall be displayed at the top of the television screen or where it will not interfere with other visual messages. 11.51 EOM end of message Encoding/decoding (creation) of EAS tones must be performed by a FCC Part 11 certified EAS device EOM EAS HEADERS ATTENTION SIGNAL Alert Message Audio
Presentation of Alerts US Canada Mandatory EAN and RMT messages Any marked Broadcast Immediate Hold times Up to 15 minutes, except EAN (immediate) and RMT (59 mins) Immediate Geotargeting FIPS codes SGC codes Event codes 54 SAME codes 153 codes Display Crawl full text of alert Crawl full text of alert Audio EAS headers+attention signal+ audio Canadian Attention signal+audio Look and Feel Requirements displayed at the top of the television screen or where it will not interfere with other visual messages. 11.51 Common Look and Feel Guidance v1.0 (amended) governs screen position, banner and text color, crawl speed Multilingual Not yet Bilingual requirement
Current and Near Term EAS Broadcast EAS (will continue for the foreseeable future) CAP EAS (will continue to grow, fueled by WEA) National Event Codes (EAN, NPT) Weather Service events (TOR, SVR, etc ) Many State and Local events (EVI, HMW, TOE) Selected National Event Codes (NPT) via IPAWS Many State and Local Events via IPAWS Many State and Local Events via State CAP systems Each State has its own EAS plan, with different monitoring assignments, test schedules, and other operation criteria
CAP & EAS Summary Television stations in 10+ countries are already receiving CAP+EAS alerts (Western Hemisphere 2015). Unique CAP formats (profiles) and message formats (EAS FSK). Distinct national (and regional) operational requirements Differing display and presentation requirements Best/ worst practices may be observed from cable/iptv EAS devices serving as a middleware layer Need for a common ATSC public alert messaging protocol output from the EAS unit - consumed by services & devices downstream That protocol should follow well-considered real-world requirements And maintaining care that the work product is not too U.S. centric or otherwise designing into a box.
AEA Development Within ATSC Complete ecosystem includes all system layers Development Involves: Specialist groups S32, S33, S34 and ad-hocs TG3 Advanced Emergency Alert Focus Group AEA I-Team
AEA Features ATSC 3.0 and AEA designed to reach many types of receivers Fixed, portable, mobile, handheld AEA provides robust-level wake-up signal for receivers in sleep mode Alerting message sent as XML files delivered from stations EAS receiver/processor.includes text and audio file Primary text alert message displayed as banner/crawl overlay on receiving device Audio version of primary alert message plays on receiving device
AEA Features Alert messages are capable of targeting receivers in specific geographic locations Receiver requires geo-location capability AEA supports delivery of multiple types of rich media content in support of enhanced alerting File and stream based rich media including: Weather radar, evacuation routes, live news and weather reporting, instructions for what to do Content from stations news and weather services or from official agencies
AEA Features User guide provides alerted consumer with quick self directed access to all information All alert messaging and supplemental rich media content is versioned and sent with expiration timing to insure that the latest and most relevant content is accessed by the consumer
AEA Alert Message Origination EAS Processor Output XML Message Files to AEA Content Manager
AEA Content Manager Content Manager receives filtered and processed alert files from the EAS receiving device, facilitates the association of rich media content with various alert types and publishes content for transmission AEA Content Manager Library Files Graphic Files HTML Pages Video Clips XML CAP Messages ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Alert System Note: Resides within Signaling & Announcement Server DTV Transmission System File Content Live Streams ATSC 3.0 Content Scheduler ATSC 3.0 Transmission System
AEA Content Manager Content Manager receives filtered and processed alert files from the EAS receiving device, facilitates the association of rich media content with various alert types and publishes content for transmission AEA Content Manager Library Files Graphic Files HTML Pages Video Clips XML Alert Messages ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Alert System Note: Resides within Signaling & Announcement Server DTV Transmission System File Content Live Streams ATSC 3.0 Content Scheduler ATSC 3.0 Transmission System
AEA Content Sources Alert Messages from Various Public Agency Sources AEA Content Manager Library Files Graphic Files HTML Pages Video Clips XML Alert Messages XML Alert Messages ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Alert System Note: Resides within Signaling & Announcement Server DTV Transmission System File Content Live Streams ATSC 3.0 Content Scheduler ATSC 3.0 Transmission System
AEA Content Sources Video Clips from Various Sources AEA Content Manager SNG Library Files ENG Graphic Files HTML Pages News Copter Video Clips Traffic Cameras XML Alert Messages Tower Camera Live Studio ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Alert System Note: Resides within Signaling & Announcement Server DTV Transmission System File Content Live Streams ATSC 3.0 Content Scheduler ATSC 3.0 Transmission System
AEA Content Sources Graphic Content Files from Local or External Sources Weather DTV Transmission AEA Content Manager Radar Systems TV Station Graphic Systems System Library Files Graphic Files HTML Pages Hyperlinks to Internet Content Electronic Still Camera Video Clips XML Alert Messages ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Alert System Note: Resides within Signaling & Announcement Server File Content Live Streams ATSC 3.0 Content Scheduler ATSC 3.0 Transmission System
AEA Content Sources Prepared and Archived Rich Media Alert Supporting Content EXAMPLES AEA Content Manager Library Files What To Do In Preparation For A Specific Type of Emergency Evacuation Route Maps How To Recover After An Event Graphic Files HTML Pages Video Clips XML Alert Messages ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Alert System Note: Resides within Signaling & Announcement Server DTV Transmission System File Content Live Streams ATSC 3.0 Content Scheduler ATSC 3.0 Transmission System
Emergency Message Banners Red banner is not a character scroll like EAS It is a datacast not in the video New alert causes vibration or sound
NRT Content Guide Multiple content types available
NRT Alert Content
Video Clips 32
JPG (or similar) Still Images Actual radar image; Can be continually updated. Can Pinch/Zoom
HTML Pages Details power outages, shelters, flooding, closed roads, areas of relief and assistance; or closest point of danger
Geo-targeted Alerts 35
Road To Implementation Completion of all elements within ATSC 3.0 required to support AEA TG-3, specialist groups, ad-hocs and focus group Develop expected receiver response criteria CEA Receiver working group with input from ATSC Engage public alerting constituents including FCC, FEMA, NOAA.I-Team, NAB, APTS, Broadcasters
Advanced Emergency Alerting Activity in Specialist Groups
AEA Activity in S32 Completed: Bootstrap signaling before every frame EAS Wake Up flag in the bootstrap: Table 6.2 Signaling Fields for Bootstrap Symbol 1 Syntax Work in Progress: Preamble (# of needed bits?) No. of Bits Format bootstrap_symbol_1() { eas_wake_up 1 uimsbf system_bandwidth 2 uimsbf min_time_to_next 5 uimsbf } EAS description of emergency type EAS banner message Tone alert is needed to precede the alert Framing CAP message Low latency needed for all EAS data or just banner message? EAS channel or dedicated pipe NRT data of weather maps, evacuation routes, etc.
Source: S32-3-370r1-LZG_Emergency_Alert_Channel_20150317.pdf
AEA activity in S33 No current activity in process Projected activities S33-1 Signaling for AEA Delivery of AEA signaling Delivery of associated rich media Delivery of associated streaming media S33-3 Companion screen support
AEA Activity in S34 Presentation of mandatory AEA media (Universal Alert Message) Alert graphics (banner) likely provide in traditional manner (i.e., burned in at the station) as well as in data form during a transition period Audio need to determine whether EAM audio is delivered in the same way as program audio, and if not, how to splice from program to EAM audio Presentation of rich media content Video, webpages, etc.; NRT and RT content Assumption: this is the same as what regular services need (i.e., no additional tasks needed) UI for AEA rich media content that allows the viewer to: Discover rich media associated with current alert(s) and possibly from past alerts Assumption(?): Receiver implementation issue (S33 to provide signaling)
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