Monroe to Introduce New EAS Tech in Wake of Nationwide Test
Monroe Electronics plans to introduce a new feature in its emergency alert system equipment that could allow more stations to broadcast more informative alerts and possibly solve a problem (see 1612280045) that prevented some stations from issuing Spanish-language alerts during…
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the September nationwide EAS test, it said. The plan was revealed in comments by Monroe in FCC docket 15-94. To address that problem and allow more stations access to the increased information available via Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS) alerts, Monroe wants to implement a mechanism that would trigger EAS devices that receive an alert from a broadcast source “to immediately seek whether there was a matching CAP (common alerting protocol) message” available through IPAWS, the filing said. If no electronic message is available, the equipment would proceed with the broadcast alert. During the nationwide test, the EAS alert was transmitted both electronically through IPAWS and in the traditional way through other broadcast stations. Stations had to retransmit whichever of the two forms of alert they received first, and since under current EAS procedures stations check for new CAP alerts every 30 seconds, many stations' alert systems were activated by other broadcasters before they could receive the IPAWS alert, which contains more detailed information. Only stations that first received the IPAWS alert had the option to broadcast the Spanish-language alert, and some stations with many Spanish-speaking viewers couldn’t do so during the test because they received the broadcast alert first. Monroe’s proposal “gives preference to the more informative CAP message but allows the broadcast EAS system to maintain its critical role if there is no corresponding CAP message, or if the Internet is temporarily unavailable,” the filing said. The company said it plans to introduce these features in its equipment in an upcoming release. The feature won’t be applied to nationwide alerts such as the emergency action notification, since rules require such messages to be retransmitted without delay, even the scant one proposed by Monroe, the filing said. “FCC clarification will be required in order to determine whether this same automatic polling methodology can and should be” applied to the nationwide codes, the firm said.