The DRM Consortium (www.drm.org), a not-for-profit international sector member of the ITU, endorsed officially the ITU’s COP29 Declaration on Green Digital Action (GDA) initiative.
Radio or terrestrial broadcasting is the line of last resistance in the face of great natural calamities. The DRM position is that the DRM Emergency Warning Feature (EWF) can save lives. DRM EWF ensures that all benefit from a meaningfully connected world while leaving no one behind, including Indigenous peoples, local communities, women, children, youth, and persons with disabilities.
In case there is a total disaster and wipe-out of local infrastructure, the DRM digital radio standard is the only broadcasting standard that can ensure text, graphics, maps information, in one or several languages, can still be sent into the affected area using the DRM Emergency Warning Feature (EWF).
Radio is a universal medium that leaves no-one behind and this important feature available in DRM digital radio can be used for vulnerable communities.
What is DRM Emergency Warning Functionality?
The Emergency Warning Functionality (EWF) of DRM (audio, text, graphs in several languages) is hard-wired into the standard. What is needed, is that receivers are on or in standby mode and can receive the EWF. When the internet, mobiles, TV and, even electricity, have failed due to a natural or man-made disaster, DRM can still save lives.
Extreme weather conditions often come with a pre-warning phase. Getting the most out of this time window to warn the public and save lives is crucial. When disasters are about to strike, getting the message to everyone affected as quickly as possible and with all relevant information is of the utmost importance.
In analogue radios, there is no such provision to provide alert signalling and as such cannot automatically be tuned to the emergency programmes. Also, analogue radios provide only audio programmes and do not have any provision to provide text, which is very important to deliver information in several languages.
Emergency Warning Functionality (EWF) in the DRM digital radio standard, overcomes all the shortcomings of the analogue radio and has all the tools required for early warning dissemination.
How Does DRM EWF Work?
The emergency programmes using DRM can consist of the audio announcement (e.g., a quickly repeated headline in a single language), but can also be accompanied by text information based on its standardised Journaline service component, a core DRM element.
When the alarm signal is triggered by the authorities, all running DRM receivers pick up the alarm signal from the currently tuned DRM service and switch to the emergency broadcast; all DRM receivers present the audio content of the emergency broadcast; all DRM receivers with a text screen, in addition, present text headlines plus detailed, multilingual information, and instructions for instant and interactive look-up by user, and turned-off receivers may switch on automatically. In addition, the volume is increased, and the emergency state is visually indicated (e.g. through a flashing screen or LED). In an emergency, a DRM digital radio set can wake up its user and provide the required information. The same is true for cars and mobile phones: Alerts and information will reach you even if the car radio is off, or when your mobile phone is disconnected from the internet.
This enhanced information can include locations and descriptions of shelters sorted by region, contact details of public authorities, or general advice for before, during, and after the event. The information can be dynamically updated and enhanced by the disaster management authority at any time as the situation evolves. Also, Journaline is designed to reach the hearing impaired, as well as travellers who do not speak the local language, through its multilingual support. The system also carries an exact description of the affected area to limit unwanted receiver switching.
The DRM Consortium supports the ITU’s vision to help build safer more connected communities.
