Monroe Electronics and its Digital Alert Systems (DAS) division have announced they are the first common alerting protocol (CAP) and emergency alert systems (EAS) encoder/decoder company to have filed their Suppliers Declaration of Conformity (SDoC), signaling successful completion of IPAWS testing for the DASDEC and the One-Net emergency messaging platforms.
The filings come with the successful completion of Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Conformity Assessment (CA), which verifies that the DASDEC and One-Net platforms conform to requirements for receiving alerting messages from the FEMA IPAWS system.
“This filing marks a milestone for IPAWS, our company, and the overall next-gen EAS endeavor in general,” said Ed Czarnecki, senior director of strategy, development, and regulatory affairs at Monroe Electronics.
“IPAWS CAP-conferment vendors are finally beginning to be listed on the FEMA RKB website. Our products are the first to be listed for CAP EAS, a significant milestone for FEMA and industry as we close in on the FCC’s September deadline for implementation of CAP equipment.”
IPAWS is the Federal Government’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System managed by the FEMA. FEMA has encouraged emergency management officials, broadcasters, and other EAS equipment users to learn more about the program and to access test reports on the FEMA RKB website before making alert and warning system purchases.
Also maintaining FCC Part 11 certification and FCC Part 15 certification, the DASDEC and One-Net effectively satisfy all the requirements necessary for EAS participants to meet the FCC’s September deadline for CAP conformance by broadcasters and cable TV operators respectively.
The IPAWS CA program is designed to ensure that vendors wishing to provide hardware or software solutions meet FCC and FEMA requirements.
The Declaration of Conformity affirms that test engineers with the Incident Management Test and Evaluation Laboratory (IMTEL) executed a series of test cases, under which the DASDEC and One-Net successfully passed all test cases in their entirety, meeting all requirements for receiving alerting messages from the FEMA IPAWS system without exception.
This assures broadcasters, cable and IPTV operators, emergency managers, and the public that the DASDEC and One-Net comply with FEMA program requirements and are ready for immediate deployment.
“The DASDEC was the first EAS encoder/decoder to integrate support for CAP, and its evolution reflects our commitment to formulating and implementing standards and processes that ensure readiness for current and future EAS requirements.” said Jim Heminway, general manager at Monroe Electronics.
“As the FCC’s September deadline approaches, radio and television broadcasters seeking CAP-compatible systems need FCC-certified and IPAWS-conformed solutions. Our DASDEC and One-Net products meets these demands while also providing the interoperability necessary to interface with a broad range of state and local emergency alert CAP networks.”
‘The DASDEC alone offers all of these capabilities in a single box, providing broadcasters with a uniquely versatile and robust EAS/CAP solution.”
The DAS DASDEC-II emergency messaging platform is an IP-based, CAP-compatible digital EAS encoder/decoder.
The system includes a standard browser-based interface for remote monitoring and control, up to four Ethernet ports for multiple access points within a station, integrated support for MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 output, and support for a broad range of interface protocols and third-party products, as well as complete FCC-compliance logging within the system’s non-volatile memory or network storage.
DASDEC-II is available in a variety of configurations, ranging from low-cost, decoder-only setups to sophisticated multichannel centralcasting messaging.
IPAWS conformity is built into every new DASDEC-II system. Broadcasters already working with DASDEC-II units can contact DAS for details about getting a free upgrade to their systems.