WASHINGTON — June 30, 2016 — ATIS today announced it is developing the North American requirements and high-level architecture specification for an LTE-based Earthquake Early Warning System (EEWS) utilizing broadcast capabilities in cellular networks. This effort was spawned in support of California’s proposed EEWS and is anticipated to initially focus more broadly on a solution for the west coast of North America.
The work will address use cases, end-to-end system requirements and architecture, mobile device behavior requirements, and security considerations. It will also include an analysis of existing standards to determine if additional enhancements may be required. The California Office of Emergency Services, Caltech, UC Berkeley, the United States Geological Survey, and other EEWS stakeholders are collaborating in this effort, which is expected to be completed in early 2017.
“For an EEWS to successfully provide critical seconds of early warning of an impending earthquake, it must involve all stakeholders and account for all unique requirements in end-to-end system design,”said ATIS President and CEO Susan M. Miller. “A seismic network must be in place to detect and process information about the earthquake seismic waves and deliver EEWs to the wireless networks. Wireless networks and handsets must be designed to support EEWS requirements. ATIS’ work addresses all critical components. With its potentially life-saving implications, it has evolved from our leadership and extensive track record in advancing broadcast alerts and many other innovations in emergency communications.”
ATIS’ EEWS initiative is intended to provide a solution that will support both primary and secondary EEW notifications to citizens. In July 2015, ATIS published its Feasibility Study on Earthquake Early Warning System (ATIS-0700020), which evaluated the feasibility of commercial LTE cellular networks in supporting public earthquake notifications as part of the proposed California EEWS. This studyconcluded that the existing Wireless Emergency Alerts system is not capable of or designed to meet EEW primary notification requirements. However, using capabilities on the LTE broadcast channel, EEWS is a viable concept for the distribution of time-sensitive EEW notifications. This concept has the potential to quickly reach millions of users in an inherently geo-targeted fashion.
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About ATIS
As a leading technology and solutions development organization, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) brings together the top global ICT companies to advance the industry’s most pressing business priorities. ATIS’ nearly 200 member companies are currently working to address 5G, the all-IP transition, network functions virtualization, big data analytics, cloud services, device solutions, emergency services, M2M, cyber security, network evolution, quality of service, billing support, operations, and much more. These priorities follow a fast-track development lifecycle – from design and innovation through standards, specifications, requirements, business use cases, software toolkits, open source solutions, and interoperability testing.
ATIS is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ATIS is the North American Organizational Partner for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a founding Partner of the oneM2M global initiative, a member and major U.S. contributor to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), as well as a member of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL). For more information, visit www.atis.org.
