Emergency warnings with short message service

Abstract

When there is an emergency, the people in the affected area need to be warned. Currently, siren systems are the primary method used in Portugal for warning the public. Unfortunately, this classical emergency warning method has shown several deficiencies. The high penetration of mobile phones and the generally very good coverage given by the mobile networks in Portugal makes this technology an interesting broadcast medium for emergency alert. This paper describes a proposal for using SMS, a method for sending text messages between mobile phones, to warn the affected population. The requirements of emergency warning systems and the main technologies (CAP and SMS) to be used are discussed. Finally, some conclusions are made about the proposed system. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.