Software updates on mobile phones and smart devices around the house have become commonplace, so why not the technology that runs how stations receive and transmit Emergency Alert System messages? That is what many radio engineers believe, according to an Inside Radio article from early April.
The National Association of Broadcasters is seeking expedited consideration of its proposal that would permit stations to use software updates for EAS equipment.
“The idea of software updates for EAS has had deep support among broadcasters since it was first floated in 2022. The NAB developed the proposal with chief technology officers and senior engineers from many of the largest radio and television groups, as well as small and medium-sized broadcast companies, and noncommercial broadcasters. The industry believes the use of software-based EAS encoder/decoder technology instead of a legacy physical hardware to process EAS messages would enhance the reliability and security of EAS, without compromising the system’s effectiveness,” says Inside Radio.
In a filing with the FCC, NAB says the need to address the option has grown more critical after Sage Alerting Systems, one of the two remaining EAS device vendors, decided last year to cease production of its encoder/decoder device due in large part to supply-chain problems acquiring legacy parts for original EAS hardware-only designs that first rolled out in 2008.”