ECIG Publishes CAP Profile for Broadcast Emergency Alert System

Emergency Alert System Manufacturers and Service Providers Develop Profile for Using Common Alerting Protocol in Broadcast EAS

Industry Leaders Collaborate on Utilizing Open Standard to Facilitate Interoperability of Advanced Emergency Alert System Capabilities in the U.S.

September 25, 2008.

The EAS-CAP Industry Group (ECIG) — a broad coalition of equipment, software, and service providers to the Emergency Alert System — today announced that its members have released a draft profile for the effective use and translation of the open, non-proprietary Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)* for the next generation of broadcast EAS.

The profile will be an important step towards improving interoperability across agencies, jurisdictions, systems, and vendors, helping to ensure that the public benefits from improved capabilities to communicate weather, civil, AMBER, and other alerts via broadcast media.

The Industry Group will provide this profile as a recommendation to U.S. governmental agencies and industry associations on the use of CAP for EAS purposes, including the FCC, FEMA, National Weather Service, and other organizations. Group members intend to rapidly implement the EAS-CAP profile within their own systems and equipment.

The EAS-CAP profile provides developers and manufacturers guidelines as to which elements in a CAP message are required for an EAS message, identifies how a mandatory alert from a state/territorial Governor would be identified, describes basic authentication and security features, recommends accepted formats for audio messages, and other features.

The output of the Group's work is publicly accessible on its website www.eas-cap.org, and the Group will offer a mechanism for public comment on that site. The Group plans to continue its work to solicit feedback and provide recommendations to EAS stakeholders.

Background

The EAS-CAP Industry Group was established in response to the July 2007 decision by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to maintain EAS and have all U.S. EAS participants adopt an ability to receive messages using the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) within 180 days after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) formally adopts CAP version 1.1 as a standard for EAS.** FEMA's announcement on CAP adoption is expected in the first quarter of 2009.

The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) is a simple but general format for exchanging all-hazard emergency alerts and public warnings over all kinds of networks. CAP allows a consistent warning message to be disseminated simultaneously over many different warning systems, such as computers, wireless communications, alarms, and television radio and cable via broadcast EAS.

Industry Group Support

Group members [see details] supporting the EAS-CAP Profile include:

Digital Alert Systems, LLC

Hormann America, Inc.

iBiquity Digital Corporation

Monroe Electronics, Inc.

MyStateUSA

Sage Alerting Systems, Inc.

SpectraRep, LLC

TFT, Inc.

Trilithic, Inc.

Warning Systems, Inc.

Additional Information

For more information about the EAS-CAP Industry Group and its EAS-CAP Profile, visit http://www.eas-cap.org.

For more information about the EAS, visit the FCC's Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/eas/.

For more information about the FCC's Report and Order on CAP, visit http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-109A1.pdf.

About the EAS-CAP Industry Group

The EAS-CAP Industry Group (ECIG) is an informal coalition of Emergency Alert System equipment, software and service providers. Using the best available information, the EAS-CAP Industry Group has collaborated to develop a voluntary profile for the interoperability of advanced Emergency Alert System (EAS) capabilities in the United States using the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). Specifically, the Industry Group collaborated to coordinate interoperable data standards among Emergency Alert System equipment, software and service providers. Further, the Industry Group will seek to provide recommendations to U.S. governmental agencies and industry associations on the use of CAP for EAS purposes.

The EAS-CAP Industry Group's intention is to offer an interoperable EAS-CAP data profile that is a freely available resource for EAS participants, equipment, software and service providers, to the benefit of public alert and warning capabilities throughout the United States. It is the intention of the Industry Group that any work product of the group be free of copyright and intellectual property constraints.

Contact

Press: press@eas-cap.org
WWW: www.eas-cap.org

Send comment to: comment@eas-cap.org.

* The Common Alerting Protocol v1.1 was developed by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), a non-profit, international consortium that develops standards.

** Review of the Emergency Alert System, Second Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 22 FCC Rcd. 13275 (2007), EB Docket No. 04-296 (Second EAS Report and Order).

[Announcement source: PDF, and reference document]

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See also: (1) the news story EAS-CAP Industry Group Publishes Profile for the Common Alerting Protocol; (2) OASIS Emergency Management TC: CAP, EDXL-DE, EDXL-RM, HAVE.

SEARCH Advanced Search ABOUT Site Map CP RSS Channel Contact Us Sponsoring CP About Our Sponsors NEWS Cover Stories Articles & Papers Press Releases CORE STANDARDS XML SGML Schemas XSL/XSLT/XPath XLink XML Query CSS SVG TECHNOLOGY REPORTS XML Applications General Apps Government Apps Academic Apps EVENTS LIBRARY Introductions FAQs Bibliography Technology and Society Semantics Tech Topics Software Related Standards Historic	ECIG Publishes CAP Profile for Broadcast Emergency Alert System Emergency Alert System Manufacturers and Service Providers Develop Profile for Using Common Alerting Protocol in Broadcast EAS Industry Leaders Collaborate on Utilizing Open Standard to Facilitate Interoperability of Advanced Emergency Alert System Capabilities in the U.S. September 25, 2008. The EAS-CAP Industry Group (ECIG) — a broad coalition of equipment, software, and service providers to the Emergency Alert System — today announced that its members have released a draft profile for the effective use and translation of the open, non-proprietary Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)* for the next generation of broadcast EAS. The profile will be an important step towards improving interoperability across agencies, jurisdictions, systems, and vendors, helping to ensure that the public benefits from improved capabilities to communicate weather, civil, AMBER, and other alerts via broadcast media. The Industry Group will provide this profile as a recommendation to U.S. governmental agencies and industry associations on the use of CAP for EAS purposes, including the FCC, FEMA, National Weather Service, and other organizations. Group members intend to rapidly implement the EAS-CAP profile within their own systems and equipment. The EAS-CAP profile provides developers and manufacturers guidelines as to which elements in a CAP message are required for an EAS message, identifies how a mandatory alert from a state/territorial Governor would be identified, describes basic authentication and security features, recommends accepted formats for audio messages, and other features. The output of the Group's work is publicly accessible on its website www.eas-cap.org, and the Group will offer a mechanism for public comment on that site. The Group plans to continue its work to solicit feedback and provide recommendations to EAS stakeholders. Background The EAS-CAP Industry Group was established in response to the July 2007 decision by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to maintain EAS and have all U.S. EAS participants adopt an ability to receive messages using the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) within 180 days after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) formally adopts CAP version 1.1 as a standard for EAS. FEMA's announcement on CAP adoption is expected in the first quarter of 2009. The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) is a simple but general format for exchanging all-hazard emergency alerts and public warnings over all kinds of networks. CAP allows a consistent warning message to be disseminated simultaneously over many different warning systems, such as computers, wireless communications, alarms, and television radio and cable via broadcast EAS. Industry Group Support Group members [see details] supporting the EAS-CAP Profile include: Digital Alert Systems, LLC Hormann America, Inc. iBiquity Digital Corporation Monroe Electronics, Inc. MyStateUSA Sage Alerting Systems, Inc. SpectraRep, LLC TFT, Inc. Trilithic, Inc. Warning Systems, Inc. Additional Information For more information about the EAS-CAP Industry Group and its EAS-CAP Profile, visit http://www.eas-cap.org. For more information about the EAS, visit the FCC's Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/eas/. For more information about the FCC's Report and Order on CAP, visit http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-109A1.pdf. About the EAS-CAP Industry Group The EAS-CAP Industry Group (ECIG) is an informal coalition of Emergency Alert System equipment, software and service providers. Using the best available information, the EAS-CAP Industry Group has collaborated to develop a voluntary profile for the interoperability of advanced Emergency Alert System (EAS) capabilities in the United States using the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). Specifically, the Industry Group collaborated to coordinate interoperable data standards among Emergency Alert System equipment, software and service providers. Further, the Industry Group will seek to provide recommendations to U.S. governmental agencies and industry associations on the use of CAP for EAS purposes. The EAS-CAP Industry Group's intention is to offer an interoperable EAS-CAP data profile that is a freely available resource for EAS participants, equipment, software and service providers, to the benefit of public alert and warning capabilities throughout the United States. It is the intention of the Industry Group that any work product of the group be free of copyright and intellectual property constraints. Contact** Press: press@eas-cap.org WWW: www.eas-cap.org Send comment to: comment@eas-cap.org. * The Common Alerting Protocol v1.1 was developed by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), a non-profit, international consortium that develops standards. ** Review of the Emergency Alert System, Second Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 22 FCC Rcd. 13275 (2007), EB Docket No. 04-296 (Second EAS Report and Order). [Announcement source: PDF, and reference document] Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See also: (1) the news story EAS-CAP Industry Group Publishes Profile for the Common Alerting Protocol; (2) OASIS Emergency Management TC: CAP, EDXL-DE, EDXL-RM, HAVE.