12.31.2009

FEMA has awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman, which is working with its partner Global Security Systems.

GSS says the aim of the contract is “to validate FM radio data chips plus RDS-based protocol for cell phones and consumer electronics.” According to a GSS summary, “This task will validate the effectiveness of RBDS technology to notify a broad range of emergency users through system tests, exercise alerts and unplanned events that happen in real time.”

The company was part of an FCC committee to develop Commercial Mobile Alert Standards, or CMAS. GSS is developer of an alerting technology called AlertFM, which it sells to emergency management organizations; that system uses the nation’s FM infrastructure for dissemination and is used in 140 U.S. locations at present.

“The award is a bellwether event as it positions GSS as a major supplier for the next-generation United States alerting and warning platform, called Integrated Public Alert and Warning System,” GSS states in a technical bulletin to radio broadcasters about the new contract from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

About a year ago, GSS and Northrop Grumman Corp. began a business relationship seeking to deploy alert and warning systems using wireless and non‐wireless communications infrastructure and consumer devices like cell phones, music players and GPS devices. The companies hope to address requirements of the Department of Homeland Security to deploy IPAWS.

More at:  http://www.rwonline.com/article/92438