DRM Emergency Warning Functionality Saves Lives In times of distaster, it’s mandatory to reach the entire population
GUESTCOMMENTARY
who don’t speak the local language. Digital Radio Mondiale can round off the established set of national tools for early warning dissemination. Radio receivers have long been a core component of warning systems worldwide. Receivers can be battery-, solar- or wind-up powered, and transmission infrastructure is both easily secured against power losses and can reach the affected area from outside. Radio transmissions are often the last way to maintain contact with people in heavily hit areas, when local power, cell and TV towers are gone.
By Alexander Zink The author is senior business development manager for Digital Radio and Streaming Applications at Fraunhofer IIS. When disasters are about to strike, getting the message to everyone affected as quickly as possible is of the utmost importance. Technical solutions need to be able to meet specific requirements for this and ensure reliability, even when the local infrastructure is down. In addition, everybody in a disaster area needs to be reachable, even people with impairments or visitors
ZINK, continued on page 10 ❱
The diagram shows how DRM’s Emergency Warning Functionality works during emergencies.
DIGITAL RADIO MONDIALE DRIVES FORWARD Radio World International Edition | February 2018
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