purpose - australian communications and media authority/media/licence issue and...

Report EWS 2013-11-29

Radio Rebroadcast Bushfire Warning System Trial – Eldorado Vic

Ivan Carter

Report Radio Rebroadcast Bushfire Warning System Trial Eldorado Vic for the ACMA of

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Purpose

To test a radio–rebroadcast warning system for a bushfire and other emergency applications and determine its

capabilities with respect to: - the broadcast of relevant and timely information to residents notifying them of danger and hazards

relating to an emergency. - advising residents on what to do, when to do it and how during an emergency such as a bushfire

- assessing the range of the broadcast to determine the control of the reach of the warning messages to residents

- assessing the lifesaving potential of such a warning system during a catastrophic event such as a bushfire. This trial aimed to test whether the EWS is capable of providing longer range broadcast to a community/town on a

single frequency in the event of a natural disaster such as a bushfire. The objective is to ensure that radios within the

following target zones will receive the warning message:

1. over a radius of 500m at Eldorado;

2. broadcasting over a radius of 2kms around Eldorado; and

3. broadcasting 5kms in one direction (expanded to 10kms).

Licence Details

The trial was enabled to be conducted under scientific license issued by the ACMA:

Licence Type: Scientific

ACMA Licence Number: 1954529

Callsign: AX2NRN

Background

EWS previously conducted a trial of the override technology at Philip Island Victoria (29th

April 2011).

This trial identified that motorists would receive the Warning Messages travelling up to highway speeds.

During this trial there were some difficulties in controlling the precise geographical limits of the over

broadcast range (due to time and factors beyond EWS control) and was noted that adequate radio cell

planning need to be undertaken in any future deployments.

The technology had been deployed by Victoria Police in the Latrobe Valley when the Princes Highway

posed driving hazards. According to Victoria Police, this deployment was successful and assisted in

managing driver behaviour to avoid incidents and accidents.

The Victorian Fire Services Commissioner, Craig Lapsley requested a demonstration of EWS’s technology

and selected Eldorado as the site because the area has no mobile phone service. Being in a mobile black-

spot means warnings issued by SMS through Emergency Alert would not be received by Eldorado residents,

making Eldorado an extremely high bushfire risk area. Commissioner Lapsley asked that the demonstration

show the following:

1. That the technology could send a clear signal and totally over-ride the station being interrupted

2. The messages could be confined to the above defined target zones

3. The community believed delivering a message via the radio override was an acceptable means of

receiving an alert

4. That radio messages can be an effective way of providing quality information to people facing a risk

to life or property so that informed decisions can be made.

To undertake the demonstration EWS was granted the above licence by the Australian Communications and

Media Authority (ACMA) which allowed the over-riding to occur on 90.5FM, a dummy radio station in that



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area. EWS had sought permission to over-ride the local radio stations broadcast in the area and had full

support from the respective radio stations for that to occur.

Trial Planning

The local Eldorado community was advised via a public awareness campaign executed by the local CFA and

media that the trial would be running and their involvement was sought to help assess the effectiveness of

the system. To assist this, the temporary broadcast station operating on 90.5FM was installed and

operational for the two days prior the actual trial enabling the community to be tune into the correct

frequency in advance. Variable message signs were placed in the outskirts of the town so that anyone

entering Eldorado was advised of the trial and to tune to 90.5FM to participate.

A detailed agenda was provided to the community (see Appendix A) such that each resident would know

what and when to expect their radio would receive or not the over broadcast signal.

Site selection and over broadcast range determination studies were undertaken several days prior to the trial

to determine the best operational set-up , antenna height and transmitter output power to provide the desired

over broadcast reach (see Operational Details below).

A broadcast radio station site was established to provide an equivalent FM signal which was comparable to

the local radio station – 102.1 Edge FM - throughout the whole target zone of the override system.

Transmitter site 1 was established to provide the long range override signal into a known CFA radio and

mobile phone black-spot. The black-spot however covered an area of out to 10km from Eldorado along

Woolshed Rd. The importance of penetrating this area beyond 5km was emphasised by the local CFA

Capitan and the trial was expanded to 10km to cover this particular area.

Final setup of this site showed the override message could be clearly heard within the Eldorado township

and out to a distance of 11km along Woolshed Rd. There was no audible convergence of signals and

message remained clear at all times.

Transmitter site 2 was established to provide the short and medium range override signals around the

township.

Operational Details

Broadcast Radio Station

Location: Milne Rd: -36.337858,146.520827

Frequency: 90.5 MHz FM

Output Power: 40 Watts

Antenna Height: 10 metres

Polarisation: Vertical

Rebroadcast of 102.1 Edge FM

Override Transmitter Site 1

Location: Cemetery Rd: -36.331529,146.525994


Output Power: 80 Watts





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Long range override transmitter

Override Transmitter Site 2

Location: Percy Lane: -36.313668,146.519883


Output Power: 0.5 Watts / 80 Watts



Short and medium range override transmitter

Conditions:

Fine and sunny, light breeze.



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Trial Observations

During the scheduled 5:00 – 6:00 pm trial, each override message could be clearly heard. The correct

override message was heard based on the schedule provided and for approximately the duration (within 10 –

20 seconds) as indicated. On some occasions there was a short quiet time (3 – 4 seconds) before and after

the override message was heard. All messages ran to completion with no message being cut-off half way

through before normal broadcast was resumed.

CFA crews drove through the target areas during the trial to monitor the override transmission but also to

verify that the override transmission did not impact their radio communications and other equipment. CFA

crews reported that during the trial all CFA equipment and radio communications devices operated normally

without any impact or interference.

The two adjacent frequencies (90.3 MHz and 90.7 MHz) were monitored throughout the trial to listen for

any unwanted interference. At the location, no other broadcast radio stations could be received on those

frequencies nor during times of override could the EWS Override signal be heard.

Overall Assessment

The trial clearly demonstrated that the system was able to override the broadcast radio station and provide

clear and undistorted warning messages over a diverse terrain and when complete, relinquish the frequency

back to the broadcast radio station. The three objectives to cover the immediate area of Eldorado township

and separately out to a distance of 10 km or more along Woolshed Rd were met and shown that appropriate

radio cell planning is required and is effective is managing target zones.

The trial demonstrated that the EWS override system did not interfere with the normal operation of any other

broadcasters' signals nor with any other appliance or equipment particularly the CFA radio communications.

The three different situation messages broadcast during the trial demonstrated the ability of the system to be

used effectively in variety of situations. Community feedback was extremely positive as evidenced in a

video that captured the essence of the demonstration. The timing and content of actual messages would need

to be carefully considered to ensure that the outcomes are positive.

The demonstration for Commissioner Lapsley was captured in a video which can be found trough the

following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi7eH6u3uRs

As a result of the success of the trial expressions of interest in the technology have been received from

Victoria Police for deployments on the Hume Freeway where driver fatigue is known to result in deaths,

injury and blockages.

A subsequent demonstration in Eldorado was conducted for Telstra which again was successful. As a result

Telstra has a goal of integrating EWS’s technology with their Emergency Alert (EA) text messaging service

to:

1. Provide a service to mobile phone black-spot areas; and

2. As a redundant system for EA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi7eH6u3uRs



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Maps of Locations

Locations from top to bottom as indicated

CFA Shed: 129 Main St, Eldorado, Victoria

Percy Lane - Override Transmitter 2: -36.313668,146.519883

Cemetery Rd - Override Transmitter 1: -36.331529,146.525994

Milne Rd - Broadcast Transmitter: -36.337858,146.520827



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Locations as indicated above including terrain showing Woolshed Rd

Locations as indicated above plus 11km mark on Woolshed Rd from Eldorado CFA shed.

Maps Reference:

https://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?msid=215356108906305059459.0004cde5815558e7aa0f5&msa=0



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Site Photos

Override Transmitter 2

Portable antenna mast with dipole antenna plus override controller and radio transmitter (within enclosure).



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Appendix A – EWS Agenda for Eldorado trial

Eldorado trial for the Victorian Fire Services Commissioner

1700-1800hrs, 2 November 2012 - Agenda

Broadcasting on 90.5FM will have commenced on Wednesday 31 October to allow residents time to tune to

the frequency to in readiness for the trial.

Time (hrs) Activity Comments

1600 FSC arrives

Guests begin to gather at Eldorado CFA

1630 Media arrival

1650 Introduction from EWS about the trial and the

functionality of the technology

Geoff Drucker EWS

1655 Message from the Fire Services Commissioner

(FSC)

Craig Lapsley

1700 Trial begins

1705 Fire message broadcast to total target zone

(interrupts over a 5 minute period )

1708 Radio transmission resumes intermitted

1710 Fire message broadcast to total target zone

(interrupts over a 2 minute period)

1712 Radio transmission resumes

1715 Hazmat message broadcast to within a 500m radius

of Eldorado CFA


1722 Hazmat message broadcast to within a 500m radius

of Eldorado CFA


1730 Flood message broadcast to within a 2km radius of

Eldorado


1740 Flood message broadcast to within a 2km radius of

Eldorado


1750 Interrupt-Join us at the BBQ message broadcast to

total target zone

1800 Residents gather at CFA for barbecue

1815 EWS thanks community for participation Geoff Drucker

1820 CFA Captain speaks to Community

Prize draw conducted

FSC sums up and thanks locals

Craig Lapsley

CFA representative

Eldorado CFA Captain-

Peter Brick



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Appendix B – Media Coverage about the trial

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-02/mock-emergency-warnings-to-be-trialled-in-

eldorado/4349022?&section=news

Mock emergency warnings to be trialled in Eldorado Posted Fri Nov 2, 2012 9:58am AEDT

Technology that can override radio frequencies to broadcast emergency warnings will be trialled in the north-east

Victorian town of Eldorado today.

Residents within a 10 kilometre radius of Eldorado will be asked to tune into an unused radio frequency where mock

emergency warnings will be broadcast from 5:00pm (AEDT).

They will be asked to give feedback on the broadcast.

Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley says Eldorado was chosen as the trial site because it is in a geographically

isolated high fire risk area that is not well connected to telecommunications.

"The community understand that they've got an isolated area, they don't have mobile phone coverage in the valley to

the extent that we can use our SMS messaging system," he said.

"If this is a successful trial this will give us an opportunity to look at this as an option."

He says today's mock emergency will be based on a bushfire scenario but if successful the system could be used in

other emergencies.

"Although it's fire focused this could be, if successful, used for not only fire," he said.

"It could be used for flood and other examples, so it shouldn't be seen just as a fire tool but we certainly use Eldorado

in a fire footprint, so the Eldorado community, the Eldorado CFA [Country Fire Authority] have been fundamental in

ensuring that we can go up and trial this."

Meanwhile, Victoria's new text message emergency warning system will be tested in the town of Yea in the

Murrindindi Shire this weekend.

A location-based warning system was a recommendation of the Bushfires Royal Commission.

The technology used will send text messages to people based on their location rather than their billing address.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-02/mock-emergency-warnings-to-be-trialled-in-eldorado/4349022?&section=news

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-02/mock-emergency-warnings-to-be-trialled-in-eldorado/4349022?&section=news



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Source: http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/1542763/eldorado-warning-system-getting-closer/?cs=11

Eldorado warning system getting closer

By TAMMY MILLS June 1, 2013, midnight

Sophie Mirabella and Emergency Warning Systems managing director Geoff Drucker inspect the bushfire warning system being

tested at Eldorado yesterday. Picture: JOHN RUSSELL

A FORMER Wangaratta man is “quietly confident” his emergency management system will be able to be used at

Eldorado by next fire season despite a bureaucratic hold-up.

Geoff Drucker has developed technology to override radio frequencies for emergency warnings in mobile phone

blackspots such as Eldorado.

It was trialled successfully in November and yesterday Mr Drucker demonstrated its capabilities for Telstra and

member for Indi Sophie Mirabella.

“It’s fantastic and the problem is that current legislation has some technicalities that prevents this from being used,”

Mrs Mirabella said.

http://www.bordermail.com.au/

http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/1542763/eldorado-warning-system-getting-closer/?cs=11



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Legislation gives radio stations a licence to broadcast in a wide area, meaning if emergency warnings were used on

systems, warnings would be broadcast in areas it’s not applicable.

Mrs Mirabella said it would require only a tweaking of legislation to ensure the broadcast widths could be narrowed in

emergency incidents.

“It’s utterly uncontroversial,” she said.

“It’s a no-brainer.”

Mr Drucker said Communications Minister Stephen Conroy assured the amendments would be introduced in this

year’s first parliamentary sitting. This hasn’t happened.

Mr Drucker said it would be held up further by the September elections but regardless, emergency services should be

able to use the technology come summer.

“They can get an exemption to use our technology in an emergency,” Mr Drucker said.

“So we’re quietly confident while we’re waiting for the legislation to be changed, there is a way around the legislation

at the moment.”

A spokesman for Senator Conroy said the government welcomed trials being undertaken and the trial participants were

due to report to the Australian Communications and Media Authority in September.

Mrs Mirabella said she would follow the matter up with the minister.

Mr Drucker said he hoped Eldorado would become the first area in the country to use the technology before it was

rolled out into other blackspots.

He said he had conducted successful demonstrations of the technology in Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and

Qatar.

“We’re a young company and we’ve got to start somewhere and we’d like to start at home first,” he said.



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