The Cellular Emergency Alert Systems Association
Australia Branch
www.ceasa-int.org/ceasa-au
Cell-Alert UK
CEASA International
CEASA Chapters
Cell Broadcast Forum
After the tsunami catastrophe Jim Morin has been kind enough to allow CEASA chapters to post on our
websites, his political cartoon published 30/12/04 by the Miami Herald.
Click here for a larger version of this timely comment. CEASA-AU helps to write the best practices and MoUs for the deployment in Australia, of the proposed Cell Broadcast public warning system, known as Cell@lert.
The Cellular Emergency Advisory Service Association (CEASA) is a citizens action initiative, a not for profit group. Originally formed in the US, the Australia branch has been very active for many years and has played an important role in the research and development of the solution. There are other active moves in UK, US, Canada, Switzerland and Germany. An unrelated group is active in Holland.
It consists of those parties who would wish to see mobile devices used for the purpose of public warning, and those who will be part of the technology chain who will make it possible. All parties are welcome to join
Networks such as mobile phone companies will be vital to provide the infrastructure over which the messages will flow to citizens at risk. They will seek assurance that only genuine bona fide sources will have access to their customers and those security systems will prevent unauthorized access such as spamming.
Cell@lert-AU will provide the operating company who will administer the Cell Broadcast Broker, which will authenticate users and provide the user friendly map and GUI which officers use to input messages. .
Mobile Data Corporation will purchase access to the networks and the licensing of all related technology.
User groups such as governmental agencies and citizens groups will want to make sure that any messages are pertinent proportional and authorized.
What is
CellAlert?
CEASA
formed Cell@lert to find technical solutions, and develop technology accordingly
if it did not yet exist. CellAlert is the for-profit organisation
which implements the actual technology that provides the Cell Broadcast
Broker and other infrastructure to make the service actually happen. They
follow the 'rules' as set out by the local CEASA association for that sovereign
state.
What is Cell Broadcasting?
Cell Broadcasting (CB) is an existing function of most modern digital mobile phone systems, such as GSM UMTS and CDMA. It differs from SMS in that, while it does put text messages on the screen of the phone, (like SMS does), it does this to 'all-at-once 'and not one-at-a-time as SMS does.
This is particularly valuable in times of emergency as government may need to reach millions of citizens within seconds; all while telecom systems are in full overload!
CB works even in full overload, does not itself contribute to load, will not crash the networks, and can reach 95% of mobile phone users within about 20-30 seconds.
CB is scalable from about one block to the whole country, without causing significant overload problems of its own.
Since it uses existing mobile networks infrastructure, it is suitable for developed and least developed countries alike,
Significantly, we have developed technology whereby the senders can select the area where the message is to be sent, giving the ability to give different messages to different areas.
In addition, since there are 65000 different channels, different uses can be kept apart so that people are not bothered by spam. This means that many other uses can be found for this feature, some of which may be used by mobile devices but some of which may be for other devices., such as in car navigation and information services.
The Mobile Data Corporation will make the necessary arrangements so that users do not conflict with each other, and there is no negative impact on the networks.
Details; click here
Contacts
Hon, Sec
Richard Hamilton
hamilton@ceasa-int.org
+61 419 343 827
Advisor; Mark Wood
wood@ceasa-int.org
Advisor;
Douglas (Bud) Weiser
weiser@ceasa-int.org
External links
LogicaCMG
IV Developments
Cell Broadcast Forum