TV Stations, Broadcast Technology Industry Push Forward With M-EAS, Mobile DTV Development

The technology has been proven, said LG Zenith spokesman John Taylor of a pilot project this year with NBC affiliates WPTV-TV West Palm Beach, WESH-TV Orlando and other Florida stations. It will be the foundation of an advanced warning and response network capability that will find its way into ATSC 3.0, he said. The stations successfully transmitted M-EAS signals and consumer devices with M-EAS software received from National Weather Service alerts, he said: "The main takeaway from the test is there’s no interference with the stations’ main ATSC channel or with their mobile screens."

The test equipment from the project is still in operation at WPTV, said Steve Billing, WPTV director-engineering. Each time an EAS alert is received and forwarded by the station, it's transmitted to the mobile DTV audience, he said. “The new equipment allowed us the capability to put a message over the mobile device with the critical information,” Billing said. “Anything we can do to help get the message out ... is certainly appreciated by our audience.”

State emergency officials in Nevada have worked to get state officials to adopt the Common Alerting Protocol technology, following a pilot effort that involved Vegas PBS, said Adrienne Abbott, chairwoman of the Nevada State Emergency Communications Committee. Emergency managers and law enforcement officials would use that platform to issue EAS messages and follow-up information for mobile DTV devices, she said. Through mobile DTV pilot projects, some of the PBS stations have provided data streams on their channels for law enforcement and public safety agencies to access during disasters, she said.

The standardization for M-EAS is still underway, Taylor said. At ATSC, there’s a strong focus on next-generation efforts to develop the ATSC 3.0 standard, he said. In the context of global emergency alerting, “this will allow us to leverage some of the capabilities of the new standard that will have superior mobile TV capabilities, higher data throughput, more robust transmission and things like greater signal penetration indoors,” he said. The hardware system, Futurecast, developed by LG Electronics and GatesAir, is undergoing extensive testing to examine how mobile EAS will work within that physical layer, Taylor said. “We view mobile emergency alerting as a key capability for the new standard that will leverage the enhancement that will be coming with ATSC 3.0.” The ultimate goal is to make it available on any device, as the network is deployed in the years ahead, and mobile broadcast capability is built into a wide range of products for consumers, Taylor added.

Next-generation EAS can help emergency managers carry out their mission of communicating to as many people as possible, Abbott said. With new ways to do that and through the traditional broadcast method, “you’re going to be able to do that,” she said. “Not everybody is watching conventional TV [or] listening to the radio at any given time,” she said. Some of the older technologies like reverse 911 may not be able to reach people who prefer newer technologies, she said: "That leaves the next-generation options, like mobile DTV." The duplication of messages also adds an advantage, she said. “If someone gets the same message across two or three different platforms, then they’re more likely to do what they’re supposed to do and take steps to save themselves.”