Why Cell Broadcast Is More Important Than Ever for Emergency Alerting!

E-BOOK INTRODUCTION

What’s your view of Cell Broadcast? Some of you will already appreciate what this one-to-many standards- based technology is capable of. Others may say that Cell Broadcast has had its day. Often, that view originates from Cell Broadcast never reaching the commercial To understand more about those success, initially envisioned in the benefits, in this e-Book, we take late 1990s. But don’t write off Cell a look at Broadcast too quickly. There’s much ■ What makes Cell Broadcast different? more to it than meets the eye. ■ Why old perceptions are no longer relevant. Cell Broadcast is in every mobile telecommunication network. This global technology is standardized for ■ How Cell Broadcast is at the heart of a all networks, from 2G up to 5G. Messages sent, multi-channel Public Warning approach using Cell Broadcast, are received by all devices connected to the network in a specific target area, making it an inherently location-based service. Over the years, Cell Broadcast has evolved to be feature- rich and user friendly.

As the only standardized emergency warning technology service, Cell Broadcast plays a critical role in Public Warning Solutions. No other technology has its unique characteristics. And it’s these characteristics that set it apart from the rest.

We’re not alone in this view. Over 20 countries have selected Cell Broadcast as their primary emergency alerting technology. Both Government Agencies and Mobile Network Operators (MNO) recognize the benefits that Cell Broadcast brings. © one2many 2020. all rights reserved technology. alocation-based isintrinsically Cell Broadcast means theradio Using cells that network. mobile just radio or up be cell asingle tocan theentire area within specified atarget The area in seconds. sent to be millions can ofone message devices, Cell With Broadcast, connection. a point-to-point many unlike basis, SMS, for uses instance, which device.mobile works Cell Broadcast on aone-to- network’s rather radio cells than to aspecific messages), they are disseminated from themobile (CB- messages to Cell itcomes When Broadcast Centerthe Cell Broadcast (CBC). CDMA) and UTRAN, E-UTRAN, NG-RAN, through for thevarious Networks (GERAN, Radio Access gives you full over control topology thenetwork from there. system Cell The Broadcast architecture with thearchitectureLet’s work our way start up as SMS.such from traditional traffic, messaging but itworkstelecommunication network, differently of themobile ispart Cell Broadcast we at thetechnology. aresection, looking –theuser experience. In this service Broadcast theCell and mechanism delivery – theunderlying technology theCell between Broadcast a difference Before we jump in, it’s highlighting that worth there is BROADCAST DIFFERENT? WHAT MAKES CELL 3 such as taxis. taxis. as such dispatch systems information sending to vehicles informationroadside billboards, signs, or even include applications Commercial applications. format by machine-to-machine forbinary processing in information broadcast Cell be Broadcast also can that not is displayed themessage repeatedly. identifier, unique a using ensures device mobile your received, Once twice. communication the same not receive do Users still receive thealert. started, or havebroadcast coverage no when thebroadcast have entered of the thetarget area thestart after CBC. ensures approach This that who users repeatedly are broadcast byCB-messages the Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). with thelatest iscompliant Broadcast EU General message. means that, anonymity Its by default, Cell information receive should device to the know which user some need also applications messaging (IMSI). Identity Subscriber Mobile Popular mobile Number (MSISDN)Directory International and Station Internationalon aMobile Subscriber information. theother On hand, SMS relies nature. not It does require any subscriber mobile isanonymous by isthat technology aCB-message from other Another difference messaging © one2many 2020. all rights reserved concerns about its relevancy. its about concerns that than often not, they thetopics More are raise follows: as there for are always Cell emergency alerting, Broadcast discussing When afew will who raise people experience of Cell Broadcast emergency alerts experience of emergency alerts Cell Broadcast mechanism. As aresult,from thedelivery theuser user experience theCell Broadcast it decoupled System (CMAS) Alert Mobile was introduced that theCommercial which aspects ofOne thecrucial evolved. have technology and standards years. Industry not anymore. they And haven’t limitations been for To fair, be were those limitations But in thepast. Reach islimited No multi-languagesupport messages Need tosignuporopt-inreceiveCellBroadcast Not allhandsetssupportCellBroadcast to workonyourhandset Manual configurationisrequiredtogetCellBroadcast Topics ofconcern NO LONGERNO RELEVANT WHY OLD PERCEPTIONS ARE

4 those concerns. concerns. those Let’s take at to alook each remove of topics, those up to match today’s reality. that to need Broadcast evolve, views, to some bring Now, of Cell perceptions it’s pre-CMAS just theold CMAS, (WEA). Wireless is Emergency which Alerts standardizedis in ATIS, under thenew name for Reach isnotlimited Multi-language issupported No sign-uporopt-inisrequired. alerting since2012 Handsets havesupportedCellBroadcastemergency Cell Broadcastisincludedbydefault No manualconfigurationisrequiredbytheenduser. Today’s reality © one2many 2020. all rights reserved default, System. Operating in theAndroid included From 11 Android on, theuser experience is, by Manufacturer (OEM) to enable theuser experience. 11 version devices, itisup to Equipment the Original For alreadyis pre-Android extensive support. WEA this. In fact, from the factory,System supports there to Operating theunderlying Android, itcomes When device.Apple alreadyis built-in receives their when theend-user user experience meansThis theemergency alert bydone theMNO, through their operator profile. iOS devices,For theconfiguration isall Apple byincluded default. is for emergency alerting service Cell Broadcast The to receive emergencythe end-user alerts. manualThere no is configuration needed for ■

No manualNo configuration required is 5 received thetest phone. on their message mobile (90%) of thepopulation over 12 years directly old Government overincreasing theyears. to theDutch According steadily has been message alert Cell Broadcast Netherlands every months. reach The six of the throughout test the isbroadcast message alert for used has been several years. emergency An Taking theNetherlands an example. as NL-Alert 2012. devices since Windowsand mobile availableIt commonly has been iOS, on Android, from Blackberry, Apple, Android, Windows.software devices. For instance: devices with operating (CMAS/EU-Alert) on all mainstream issupported for emergency alerting service CellThe Broadcast ■

emergency alerting emergency Broadcast Cell All support handsets , in June 2020, more than 13.6 million © one2many 2020. all rights reserved language support. to enabled, be theCB to client needs have multi- setthe flexibility to the language prefer.you For this provides channel range which thesecondary It is byselected theDutch Government. for example. If English was themultiple language to receive, for instance: Dutch English and alerts, in multiple languages, then itwould possible be etc. If theGovernment theemergency issues alerts will in Dutch, be or in Taiwan, itwill in Chinese, be channel range on theprimary Netherlands thealert in, For when you example, receive thealert. in the presentedbe in you’re thelanguage of thecountry for used is adefault language will messages and channel range secondary. and primary The primary channel there ranges: are two emergency alerting, for service to Cell itcomes When Broadcast for each language. assigned There are schemes different data coding always different languages. to encode possible been From it’s perspective, technology aCell Broadcast BEREC Guidelines. isrecognized in thelatest June support 2020 isnow user-friendly.support multi-language The requirements WEA The ensure that multi-language ■ information. broadcast interestup for aparticular group to receive the time, theuser experience meant you had to sign this isin thedays of feature phones. During that channel number.opt-in to aparticular Remember, required youor to subscribe services commercial tourist information, These Cell used Broadcast. as such services, messaging when location-based may perception This originate the1990s from circa Broadcast. or opt-in required sign-up There no is for Cell ■

or opt-in required sign-up No Multi-language is supported Multi-language

6 train stationsor on highways, billboards. and to,deliver alerts for signage at instance, electronic to it’s Cell With effectiveness. possible Broadcast take Cell therequired increasing Broadcast’s action this maximize thereach, ensures it also that people Not only does applications. by machine-to-machine format in for binary processing broadcast be also advantageThe added of Cellis that Broadcast it can on their devices. may who those have out alerts opt-ed of receiving even recharging and home, needs or their battery device, may who or those have their at phone left without amobile people includes reachThis also them, theactual population reach iswhat they want. for whenare they looking reach. about talk For number of devices. isnot This what Governments There‘s that reach means the amisconception 100% of thepopulation. equate necessarily to reachingof doesn‘t phones -reaching used 100% technology with any alerting of thepercentage and thepopulation. For instance, thenumber ofnetwork, you‘re phones to able reach, in the broadcasted being of thenumber of alerts to They rate it. include,multiple aspects thesuccess Now, there because topic arereach is a complicated years.reach in just increase two (8%). did who someone result This showed a29% either (79%) directly received thealert, or were near in New Zealand,test alert 87% of thepopulation Dutch population of 12 years older. and For the2019 reached 94% message annual test alert of the in June 2020, that thereach of their regular bi- devices, theDutchall mobile Government stated, available being on service theCellWith Broadcast ■

Reach is notReach limited CELL BROADCAST AND ITS ROLE IN PUBLIC WARNING

The International Telecommunication Cell Broadcast messages to be delivered to millions Standardization Bodies (3GPP, ETSI, ATIS) have of devices in seconds. In an emergency, when time acknowledged Cell Broadcast as the most viable is of the essence, using Cell Broadcast as your mobile technology for implementing Public Warning primary alerting channel, gives you the confidence in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks. That’s quite a that the right target group has received the right statement. The suitability of Cell Broadcast for information – fast! emergency alerting is also endorsed by the BEREC Guidelines. Let’s explore why these bodies have As explained earlier, by its nature, Cell Broadcast such a view. is location-based. However, with the enhanced ATIS standard, WEA 3.0, the accuracy of message From a Public Warning perspective, it is the delivery has been improved. How has this been Cell Broadcast service that is referred to – the achieved? The new capability is called device- user experience. Of all the emergency warning based geo-fencing. In WEA 3.0, the network technology services available, Cell Broadcast is includes the target area geometries (polygons and, the only one that is standardized. Consequently, or, circles) in the Cell Broadcast message itself. one of the outcomes from the standards work is Based on that input, the geo-fencing feature of Cell the unique standardized ringtone and vibration, Broadcast uses satellite navigation, e.g., Galileo, which is used across for the world for emergency or WiFi, and the cell information to establish the communication. No matter where you are in the mobile device‘s location. This functionality allows world, a Cell Broadcast emergency alert has Cell Broadcast messages to be more precisely the same unmistakable sound and vibration. It‘s delivered, with an accuracy level of meters, using displayed automatically – with no user interaction. the mobile device‘s actual location. Can you remember the first time you heard it? The alert certainly makes you pay attention. The device-based geo-fencing feature allows the Alert Originators to issue warning messages to The Cell Broadcast service is part of the mobile those living on the left side of the highway but not network‘s signaling. Why is that important for Public the right or to all those in the vicinity of two blocks, Warning? Under 3GPP standards, Cell Broadcast not the whole city. has priority over any other service and, in some cases, utilizes a separate channel to regular Given the uniqueness of its capabilities, it‘s clear messaging traffic. The service is not affected by why Cell Broadcast is at the heart of a multi-channel mobile network congestion, nor does it contribute to Public Warning Solution.

7 © one2many 2020. all rights reserved lieschallenge in outdated perceptions. Requirements.Alert Unfortunately, theonly It meets all thestandardized Wireless Emergency reliable,a robust, emergency warning technology. isn’t whether challenge The is or not Cell Broadcast deaths,substantially reduce injuries, damage. and Fast, targeted, emergency warning messages make earlyeffective warning adifference. alerts of early warning systems”, have shown that Tsirkunov and theRogers as Benefits and “Costs area(s) dictates. Studies, fast thecrisis as as such reach in alltheaffected those the emergency alerts isinevitable.with emergencies imperative It‘s that an unfortunateIt‘s of sign thetimes that dealing SUMMARY 8 solution. of acomprehensive, powerful emergency alerting emergency strategy,multi-channel you‘re assured of yourwith other part channels as multi-hazard, Public Warning Solution. in When used conjunction technology, of a isat Cell theheart Broadcast As theonly standardized emergency warning than evermore important when you objectively. look is doubtThere that no is service theCell Broadcast [email protected]