Affordable Mobile Alerts Content Manager

Posted on October 3, 2013 in ATSC News

Serving Up the Affordable Mobile Alerts Content Manager

By Jay Adrick, Harris Broadcast, Chairman ATSC Mobile EAS Implementation Team

Broadcasters, hardware manufacturers and software suppliers are making great progress on developing the “Content Manager” for the ATSC-standard Mobile Emergency Alert System (M-EAS).  It’s a software-based solution designed to integrate with a station’s existing emergency alerting system, and working prototypes are coming soon.

Based on the work of the ATSC’s Implementation Team for Mobile EAS, this effort has involved research to determine how various stations relay alerts that come from external sources as well as from the usual “chain of command” at a station when emergencies occur – whether that’s something delivered by Mother Nature or a man-made emergency.

Broadcasters themselves are heavily involved in this effort, showing equipment and software suppliers how information comes in and then how assets such as video, maps, graphs, and other rich media should be deployed to viewers using the ATSC A/153 Mobile Digital TV Standard to devices equipped to receive M-EAS.  In some cases, it’s the News Director who makes final decisions.  Other TV stations might find station Master Control in the driver’s seat.

Triveni Digital, Expway and Monroe Electronics are playing active roles in this process to develop a block of software that will reside on the station’s mobile signaling server.  Triveni Digital expects to have a first-generation software release by Thanksgiving time, and Monroe should also have a driver and output port devoted to Mobile EAS soon.

A key target is to complete the assignment with a minimum of investment by individual stations – probably under $4,000 per installation.  Forward-looking capability is also being built into the new system, with additional features added through future software updates.

Receiver development is also underway with Elgato having integrated the M-EAS alert banner into their software. They are working on the addition of rich media display to accompany the alert message. Discussions are also underway with other receiver manufacturers to encourage them to develop the software addition necessary to support M-EAS.

Now that the new M-EAS Content Manager is on the near-term horizon, broadcasters are poised to launch emergency alerts that harness the power of mobile TV broadcasting.

Posted in ATSC News