Digital Alert Systems powers ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Alerting demos at NAB 2019

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2019
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Digital Alert Systems DASDEC Devices to Power ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Alerting Demos at the 2019 NAB Show

LYNDONVILLE, N.Y. — Digital Alert Systems, the global leader in emergency communications solutions for video services providers, today announced that its DASDEC™ series of Emergency Alert System (EAS)/Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) encoder/decoders will power key, next-generation (next-gen) TV demonstrations across the 2019 NAB Show to showcase the ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Alerting (AEA) specification.

“If you’re attending NAB this year, you’ll find Digital Alert Systems involved in a wide range of ATSC 3.0 next-gen TV demonstrations, starting with one in our own booth that showcases the AEA spec — the heart of the ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Information service. The DASDEC’s EAS- Net AEA module goes beyond conventional EAS compliance, aggregating messages and multimedia and generating next-gen emergency messaging for ATSC 3.0 transmission. It’s a new frontier for broadcast TV emergency information support,” said Ed Czarnecki, senior director of strategy and government affairs for Digital Alert Systems. “We encourage 2019 NAB Show attendees to visit all the demo locations and witness how Digital Alert Systems is advancing emergency messaging and empowering its customers to deliver innovative emergency information solutions via ATSC 3.0 … now and well into the future.”

Using Digital Alert Systems’ ATSC 3.0-compliant emergency information solutions, broadcasters can deliver a broad range of ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 emergency messaging services. By simply enabling the EAS-Net™ AEA license key module included in DASDEC version 4.0 software, users can easily integrate DASDEC devices into the ATSC 3.0 environment and take advantage of ATSC 3.0’s Advanced Emergency Alerting capability for EAS/CAP compliance. The AEA feature makes the DASDEC a core part of a simple and cost-effective transition to the next generation of TV.

Here are the ATSC 3.0 AEA demonstrations taking place at NAB:

  • Digital Alert Systems (Booth N4813) will showcase the core of the ATSC 3.0 AEA system, which is included with the DASDEC version 4.0 software update, as well as the new 2.0 version of the HALO enterprise-wide EAS management system. The DASDEC’s EAS-Net AEA module aggregates content, including messages and multimedia, and generates a station’s next- generation emergency information messaging for transmission to AEA-enabled applications on ATSC 3.0 receivers. HALO 2.0 is a web-based tool that can oversee and facilitate command of all DASDEC devices in an operation — forming a single aggregation point for multiple users from different departments. Through HALO 2.0, operators can oversee the health and status of each DASDEC device, alert personnel of changes, centralize configuration settings, manage software updates, and consolidate FCC-mandated test results. Both DASDEC EAS-Net AEA and HALO 2.0 provide power and essential capabilities for next-gen TV.
  • Triveni Digital (Booth N3908) will integrate the DASDEC system with its GuideBuilder™ broadcast metadata generator to stage an end-to-end ATSC 3.0 demonstration of ATSC’s NextGen TV Advanced Emergency Information service. This demonstration will showcase the ability to transmit AEA messages, with accompanying multimedia, for an enhanced emergency information experience.
  • UniSoft (Booth N4131) will demonstrate an end-to-end ATSC 3.0 broadcast with AEA capabilities and a broadcaster application on an ATSC 3.0 receiver, leveraging the DASDEC system and the S&T ATCaster™ stream generator. The UniSoft demonstration, integrated with the DASDEC, will show a comprehensive emergency information capability that includes local origination of emergency messaging, forwarding of selected information from IPAWS and other sources, RF broadcast, and display on a custom ATSC 3.0 broadcaster application.
  • With Comark/Hitachi (Booth C4409), Digital Alert Systems will demonstrate a full “glass-to- glass” solution covering the gamut — from camera and encoding through transmission to display — using a complete ATSC 3.0 working environment, including a DASDEC device with ATSC 3.0 AEA signaling.
  • AWARN (Booth N1435) will host a demonstration of its ATSC 3.0 user experience research. The DASDEC system, integrated with Triveni Digital’s GuideBuilder metadata generator, will simulate a typical next-gen TV station’s emergency information architecture and how it can distribute and present advanced emergency information.