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Last updated: 26 March 2009
The approach of the New Technology Group
The New Technology sub group (NTG) was the last group to be established and from the outset it was acknowledged that its aims and objectives would focus on mid to long term issues.
There are no "quick fix" technological solutions capable of providing all of the answers to the range of problems associated with communicating with the public before, during and after a civil emergency.
Modern technology is developing at an exciting pace. The sub-group has met several times to consider new innovations and exchange data in order to think about ways in which new technology might be applied to public warning and information. The group looked, for example, at the use of the Internet as a potential warning/alerting device; and the possibility of maximising the potential of RDS radio systems. It is intended that such work will continue.
However, for the purpose of this interim report, the group have focused on three main areas where it considers the most effective progress is being made and where there are opportunities for considerable progress in the relatively short term. It makes recommendations where it considers the emphasis could be placed in the form of support for research and development.
The 3 areas of concern are described below:
Information
The BT concept A.I.R.E.S. (Automated Information Resourcing System) is designed to provide an information gateway from a single source to any number of information points.
It would enable an organisation such as a local Police HQ to handle a large volume of non-emergency enquiries (e.g. from the general public or media) while dealing with the actual response, without the threat of an over-saturated switchboard.
Warning
Community notification systems in which digital signals are sent through the telephone network to receiving devices. A system of this type is currently undergoing trials in America by the Telcordia Company.
Communication
Powerline communications systems which utilise secure Internet communication, via an independent custom software gateway, using inventor patented electricity powerline modems and devices to access standard power distribution networks (electricity sub stations) which, in turn, interface with patented polled electronic warning/alerting devices that are plugged into a standard power socket, to raise an alert and send a message in the event of a civil emergency. This concept is currently being progressed as a project by 4WarnAlert.
It is recommended that these 3 concepts be the subject of support and endorsement, in terms of further trials and pilots. Further details are provided below: -
Automated Information Resourcing System (A.I.R.E.S.)
This concept was presented to the NSC, and then to ACPO at their 2000 Conference addressing major hazards response, by BT in conjunction with Gloucestershire Police following their experience with the major incident at Albright and Wilson (see paragraph 9 of Appendix A [PDF 107KB] for more details of this incident).
When the toxic plume escaped over an area of Gloucestershire and Avonmouth, it generated a large volume of telephone enquiries to the Police, which resulted in a system overload and breakdown in communication with neighbouring forces, thereby compromising the effectiveness of the emergency response.
All telephone communications to Gloucestershire Police were lost; both landlines and mobiles, and none of their 32 operators could respond to calls and enquiries. Gloucestershire Police are hosts to a multi-agency Local Emergency Centre (LEC) co-located at Gloucester Police buildings, together with attendant media briefing centre for the purpose of co-ordinating a response to a nuclear accident in the recognised Gold/Silver/Bronze system.
The Police intention was to apply such methodology to the response to other types of civil emergency, as promulgated in the Home Office Guidance 'Dealing with Disaster', utilising similar technologies and systems. BT was invited to join the Police considerations of this issue and to enter a consultation process with local stakeholders. The A.I.R.E.S. system was demonstrated by BT at the end of this consultation process.
The system offers an information gateway, providing a number of options via telephony, the Internet to computers, telephones, digital TVs, to faxes via web-sites, to E-mail, SMS etc. In other words - Autobulk Transmission.
The telephony option is particularly interesting, and mirrors the application of the BT LINKLINE system to the public enquiry system used successfully by the Passport Agency. By acquiring and using a separate server, a local Police Force could segregate BT LINKLINE from its own switchboard system. This capability would be triggered by use of a secured PIN number in order to invoke the scheme. Pre-set information could be produced for foreseeable incidents and updated appropriately to maximise effectiveness.
It is not part of the PSTN network, and has resilience in the event of a civil emergency. The system is reliant on a "kick-in" mechanism, which would require agreement on the necessary protocols at local, regional, or national levels required to invoke it.
A cost is involved in acquiring the server/PIN needed to invoke the system. However, there is clear potential for cost sharing between stakeholders eg between Police Forces.
Initially quoted projected cost figures from BT were £20K for setting up by BT, and £25K per annum (fully managed by BT) thereafter - this cost having the potential for sharing at local, regional or ultimately at national level.
Community Notification System.... utilising telephony
On June 29th 2000 in the USA, Gregory L Rohde, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, and Administrator of the USA National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), announced he would host an ' ALL HAZARDS WARNING' roundtable on July 17th at the Commerce Department in Washington to highlight the need for the use of additional technologies to alert the public to emergencies.
The roundtable addressed the question:
How do you raise an alert in every building/room/bedroom in the nation by means which is effective, efficient and economical, particularly for those who are physically impaired or of limited means?
The main conclusions mirrored that of the UK's National Steering Committee in so far as there was a recognition of the many limitations of existing systems, and that there will never be a completely perfect solution, and a menu of options is required. However, it did send out a challenge.
Among the panellists was Dr. Barbara Reagor, Senior Director of Telcordia Technologies. This company subsequently began raising the profile of the development of a concept, which seems to break new ground in message delivery.
The Chairman of the New Technology Group received a visit from Larry Kalmis of Telcordia who demonstrated the concept to him. Having circulated data and general information about this interesting concept to colleagues on the NTG and received encouraging feedback, we are convinced that its progress and development warrant close monitoring.
The basic system works through a central control point or server from which a public official such as a Police Officer identifies who is to be notified, and the message to be delivered. Digital signals are sent through the telephone network, along specific telephone lines to ubiquitous notification devices. The notification device displays a time stamped message, flashes a coloured light that corresponds to the urgency of the message, and if instructed to do so, sounds one of a number of alarm sequences.
The system does not present problems in interfacing with Geo-positioning so that any location can be dialled up, and this aspect has been the subject of recent development and trials.
Telcordia is working with various stakeholder groups in the USA to develop nationally recognised standards for community notification systems.
There are clear attractions associated with such a system. Any local resident or office worker would be able to receive and access digital public notices, on a 24 hour basis, through a small receiver about the size of a small ID device (comparable to a large "palm size" computer mouse or small telephone).
Moreover, as well as public service capability, there is potential for commercial expansion as the technology could be applied to the transmission of weather forecasts, appointment reminders, traffic updates, E-mail notifications etc.
Community notification system....Utilising electricity powerline distribution systems.
Taking up the challenge presented by the US roundtable conference, and the UK's National Steering Committee, the concept being pioneered by 4WARNALERT utilises creative and existing software to transmit signals to power line communication encoding devices located in power utility sub-stations, and routed from there to all standard power sockets connected to that sub-station within the target premises.
This is the same, well established technology which enables electricity suppliers to facilitate remote meter reading and apparatus control in order to reduce peak power demand, without the physical need and intrinsic cost of actually visiting the premises. Basically, this allows an officially authorised agency to identify a specific geographic area (down to an individual room) by use of a computerised georef system, and to transmit an electronic warning message over electricity power line transmission systems to power substations within the specifically identified risk areas.
These substations will, in turn, generate the essential warning alert which is sent simultaneously to every ordinary power socket and every 4WARNALERT polling device within the room or building connected to that particular sub-station.
The consumer simply needs to purchase the device and plug it into the wall socket. He/ She can then receive a visual and audible warning backed up by text and/or voice message (the signal is converted to speech).
Various fail-safe, back up features have been built into the system, including self-testing, and power loss protector. Access is gained by the official agency (or an industrial company) through a server system linked to the Internet gateway. A financial transaction would be required to acquire such access, and there would be a unit cost (currently quoted at approx £20) per receiving device.
The paragraph above provides a simplistic overview of the system. However, it was successfully demonstrated on 28th March 2001 to the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Standing Committee on Emergency Procedures, at the Home Office Emergency Planning College.
As a result of this, the system was demonstrated to the Chairman of the New Technology Group on 16th May 2001. Together with the main creator of the system, he is seeking a 'visionary' sponsor from industry to consider a pilot scheme in order to subject it to rigorous tests and to facilitate further development.
Other Technological solutions
Public Warning & Information by Telephone (PWIT)
Prior to the establishment of the New Technology Group consideration was already being given to making progress with the development of PWIT.
The basic concept of PWIT is the utilisation of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) as a warning mechanism utilising:
The PWIT concept and the current position with this are outlined in Appendix H [PDF 137KB].
Mobile Telephone Cell-wide broadcast facility
In Autumn 2000 the New Technology Group considered a discussion paper on the use of message broadcasting on GSM cellular telephones prepared by the Oftel representative.
Whilst this paper identified a potential for using cell broadcast (CB) facilities for providing public warnings it identified the following limitations:
Other issues requiring further consideration include:
The increase in the use of mobile telephones by the public and the potential for helping to resolve the problem in alerting a mobile population suggest that this option should be given further consideration.
Implementation of the RDS emergency code
At the same time the NTG considered a paper prepared by the ntl representative on the group on the potential use of the RDS (Radio Data System) emergency code.
RDS is used most commonly within the UK for travel announcements. It is most common in vehicle radios although the facility is offered in some domestic receivers.
Licence (and possibly operating) constraints prevent the BBC at present from broadcasting emergency messages to all RDS radios within the area covered by a particular transmitter.
This is however another potential solution for communicating with a mobile population. RDS is also used in other countries (see Appendix H [PDF 137KB]) for transmission of warnings from industrial sites. This may not use the public FM frequency and would have more potential within the UK if there were to be a dedicated emergency radio frequency.
The use of RDS and its digital successor remains a potential solution that the NSC should explore as part of its ongoing work programme.
6.5.4 Use of digital broadcasting technology
In July 2001 97% of UK homes had at least one TV with 40% having access to digital TV. The number of households with digital TV is forecast to increase rapidly with analogue broadcast due to cease sometime between 2006/10.
Some local authorities are already working with cable TV providers to deliver access to their web-sites via digital cable TV. These offer great potential for providing more detailed information in the event of an emergency, and progress with such sites should be monitored by the NSC.
Technology exists to allow digital TV receivers to be programmed with a range of identifiers giving a comprehensive method of selectively informing any group of the population by any criteria.
Unlike the situation with analogue TV, digital TV sets are unlikely to require expensive adaptation.
There would be value in the NSC and the Cabinet Office holding discussions with the national Digital Television Group (DTG).
Recommendations in respect of new technology
The NSC recommends that:
6.6.1 Pilot studies are established to trial the :
That further discussions take place with the telephone companies regarding the development of both a PWIT solution and the use of the cell-wide broadcasts on mobile telephones.
The NSC gives further consideration to the potential use of RDS technology and the value of a dedicated emergency frequency.
Consideration be given by the NSC and the Cabinet Office to discussing the potential uses of digital TV with the national Digital Television Group.
General enquiries: Cabinet Office, 22 Whitehall, London SW1A 2WH.
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