Emergency Alert Info a Click Away
June 23 -- The nation's public television stations are building a new digital system to get quick emergency information to the public — not through television sets, but through computers.
"After 9/11 it became clear that this new system could really play a role in homeland security," said John Lawson, president and CEO of the Association of Public Television Stations, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group.
Engineers from Kentucky Educational Television developed software that allows the station to use its digital broadcast capacity to send emergency weather alerts and other information to computers with digital television tuner cards around the state of Kentucky.
"We found it as an opportunity to make good use of the conversion as mandated by the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] to digital broadcasting," said Virginia Fox, KET's executive director and CEO.
Fox said although several organizations are looking into how this system can work for them, emergency organizations will always have top priority over everything else.
How Will the System Work?
What the digital homeland security network will do is use "datacasting," over-the-air broadcasting of data in digital television, according to Lawson. When public television stations receive data from public safety agencies, it is then transmitted in the digital television signal. The system would send maps, text, video and audio to computers and handheld devices equipped with digital television tuner cards in homes, schools, offices, public safety and other offices.
The network will also allow public safety offices to communicate secure information to specific computers, said Lawson. For example, police information can be sent individually to all police departments through this network.
On Sept. 11, when cell phone service went down, public offices could not reach agencies and their emergency responders quickly, Lawson pointed out. He said the new system would change this.
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