Blue Alerts Draft Gives Nod to Triggered Cap Polling
A paragraph in the FCC’s draft Blue Alerts order set for the December agenda gives the nod to a change in the way emergency alerts are handled that could have effects beyond the order's creation of a single BLU emergency alert system (EAS) code for law enforcement officers in danger. “We encourage EAS manufacturers and EAS Participants to take technical steps to facilitate the delivery of IPAWS [Integrated Public Alert Warning System]-based EAS Blue Alerts to the public where an alert is first delivered to an EAS Participant via broadcast,” the draft order said, giving EAS participants permission to favor the internet-based, more-information rich common alerting protocol (CAP) alerts over the more simple alerts transmitted by the legacy “daisy-chain” system.
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The differences between the two alerts are seen as the cause of some issues during the past two national EAS tests, and EAS equipment manufacturers have been pushing the agency to affirm that acting to prioritize the CAP alerts is within the rules (see 1701090043). This section of the draft order text does that for most EAS situations, industry officials said. “This is the beginning of a process that will allow us to use additional information,” said Sage Alerting President Harold Price. “Our company is going to take this as the go-ahead,” said Monroe Electronics Senior Director-Strategy and Government Affairs Ed Czarnecki.
The draft Blue Alerts order is primarily concerned with creating a new code to alert communities when law enforcement officers are in danger. Though some industry commenters said an existing code should be used (see 1708010065), the draft follows DOJ wishes (see 1708290046) and gives Blue Alerts a unique code. The draft would require implementation of the alerts within 12 months, vs. the six months proposed in the NPRM. The draft order also requires implementation of Blue Alerts over the wireless emergency alert system within 18 months. In the WEA system, Blue Alerts will be delivered as “imminent threats,” the draft item said.
EAS manufacturers have sought to configure their devices to use a mechanism called “triggered CAP polling,” which would allow devices that have been triggered to send out an EAS message by the legacy broadcast “daisy-chain” system to spend a few seconds first searching to see if a CAP version of the alert is also useable. CAP alerts carry more detailed information than the limited text available under the legacy system, and under triggered polling the EAS devices would favor the CAP alert if one also has been received.
Under the current system, the devices send out the first alert they receive, which can lead to legacy alerts being disseminated when a CAP version was available just a second later, Czarnecki said. In the Blue Alert draft, the FCC affirms that waiting those few seconds is permissible and encouraged. “Because triggered CAP polling is estimated to require a 'few seconds' to complete, we find that its use in these instances is consistent with Section 11.51(n) of the EAS rules, which allows EAS Participants to employ a delay of up to 15 minutes before interrupting their programming and retransmitting EAS voluntary event codes,” the draft order said. This is the first time the FCC has said it approves of triggered CAP polling, Price said.
During the most recent two national EAS tests (see 1709270071), many broadcasters seeking to transmit bilingual EAS alerts -- available only under CAP -- were foiled when legacy EAS messages triggered their systems before the CAP alerts were received. EAS officials said triggered polling might address that issue, but the draft order specifically says via footnote that its affirmation of triggered polling doesn’t apply to the national tests or nationwide alerts sent out by the president. Such alerts are required to be passed on immediately, rather than the 15-minute window that applies to local EAS alerts.