Disaster Warnings
This article from the IEC draws attention to the RDS Forum's experience on this topic, which is of very wide interest nowadays.
An RDS-ODA could switch on sirens, many or even only an individual one, to encourage people to switch on their radio and listen to the news and respective alert messages. On FM with RDS we could also take advantage of the alert announcement option. This offers the authorities, in collaboration with broadcasters, a way to send out warning messages.
Experience has shown that FM is more robust than Internet. The high transmitter towers are seldom damaged in strong storms. Even if electricity fails, the transmitters use in most cases a backup power supply and many FM radio receivers work on batteries. This communication infrastructure based on FM radio is one of the most reliable ones and the RDS Forum highly recommends using it to prevent damage.
For using FM radio and RDS for disaster warnings the entire infrastructure is already there on both sides: transmitter and receiver. Most of all, it is very simple to operate. In case of a real catastrophe a mobile transmitter can be set up in a matter of minutes replacing a damaged big tower. Portable radios, car radios, and smart phones are all capable of alerting people using standard RDS with TP/TA, PTY31, RT, and PS without even changing current firmware or software.
Adding special ODAs and RDS2 can provide much more information, and all that at relatively very little cost. The RDS Forum notes that this is apparently overlooked by those officially in charge of disaster warnings.
RDS Forum experts have seen many use cases when working on various national projects in France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the USA.
Most people involved in RDS know where to find help and will agree with what is reported here, but the people that matter, being present in disaster warning and national safety committees, may never see this and may be unaware of what they are talking about, for example switching off FM in favour of Digital Radio instead.
Why join?
The RDS Forum is dedicated to managing the digital changeover. In the Forum you can:
- Meet the experts
- Solve your problems
- Access the knowledge of manufacturers and broadcasters
- Find one stop solutions for FM and Digital Radio
- Seek answers for the transition
- Meet potential customers