IPAWS - Your Wingman in Washington

Somewhere 20-30,000 feet over Oklahoma on a flight from Phoenix to Washington-Dulles Airport in May I received the (above) warning from the National Weather Service (NWS) via Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA). My phone was not in airplane mode and I was not connected to the on-board Wi-Fi network. Must have simply picked up a strong cell signal.

The NWS uses WEA to send tornado warnings and other weather threat information to compatible phones in affected areas. The service is free, nationwide and doesn't track location. When the NWS issues a warning, it's sent to the Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS), which then broadcasts the alert to cell towers in the area. The alert is then sent to phones that are WEA-capable, without requiring any sign up.

Tornado warnings aren't the only warnings sent and cellular networks aren't the only networks used. IPAWS, which operates within the auspices of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), also uses (perhaps famously) AM radio, television, and SiriusXM. In fact, IPAWS alerts will be part of ATSC 3.0, free over-the-air digital television, as it rolls out across the U.S.

The folks at FEMA/IPAWS are also working with Haas Alert as are the Department of Homeland Security and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The range of alerts available from the government include the various color coded alerts seen on highway signs along with alerts for hurricanes, tornados, wild fires, and floods.

The issue presented itself to me not only on my recent flight but also while driving in Florida around the time of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) event in Orlando where I met and spoke with IPAWS execs. It seemed that every day there was a new Amber Alert for a missing young person. I saw the same thing the following week in Seattle.

While these warnings on highway signs are a tremendous public service I am sure I am not the only driver that has struggled to read them while driving at 60-70 miles per hour during the day or at night. One of the early visions of vehicle-to-vehicle communications was to eliminate all highway signs by having them manifest either in a dashboard or head-up display.

Haas Alert is fulfilling this vision today with in-vehicle, in-dash alerts regarding the proximity of emergency response and service vehicles. Millions of vehicles from Stellantis are already equipped with this capability thanks to the car maker's aggressive application deployment strategy and over-the-air software updates.

Haas Alert is currently coordinating with the various government agencies to facilitate in-dash weather and color-coded alerts. In these times of extreme weather, knowing where wild fires, floods, hurricanes, or tornados are impacting travel can be critical to survival. Xperi has even enabled the reproduction of text and imagery metadata associated with alerts including evacuation maps.

The most common alerts, though are the color coded alerts and they pose a real distraction issue driving at highway speeds. Those alerts include:

Amber (AMBER) Alert - For locating victims of child abduction and safely reuniting them with their loved ones. Amber Alerts are issued for children aged 17 and younger whose whereabouts are not known. Alerts can be issued for children 13 and younger taken without permission, whether willing or unwilling. This is common in cases of parental abduction. Amber Alerts can be sent through SMS text messaging, radio alerts, and digital billboards - and, soon, in dashboards.

Silver Alert - These focus on seniors 65 or older or younger seniors who have Alzheimer’s Disease. Silver Alerts are issued when a senior who meets the criteria disappears and a law enforcement investigation determines the disappearance was caused by mental impairment. Highway signs can be activated if it is confirmed that the senior was driving a known vehicle at the time. This may also soon be delivered to appropriately equipped cars.

Blue Alert - These are issued to the public to warn about violent offenders who have killed or seriously injured any law enforcement officer. A description of the offender’s vehicle or its tag or partial tag must be available to make an announcement to the public.

Endangered Missing Persons Alert - These are similar to a Silver Alert targeting individuals with severe cognitive or intellectual impairment who may be in an unsafe environment. Missing persons of any age who have a diagnosed intellectual disability are eligible for an Endangered Missing Persons Alert - coming to a car near you soon...maybe.

Camo Alert - Camo Alerts notify the public about current or former military personnel who are missing. Personnel must register for the program in advance to be eligible. A physician or psychologist must verify that the person suffers from a mental illness or traumatic brain injury.

Clear Alert - A specialized program to assist missing adults who are not eligible for help under the other programs, filling the gap between the Amber Alert and Silver Alert programs. Individuals 18 to 64 years of age whose current whereabouts are unknown are eligible for the program.

There are more than 1,800 IPAWS alerting authorities. More than 180 missing children have been recovered as a result of IPAWS Amber Alerts. More than 600 IPAWS weather alerts are sent monthly. IPAWS has even been used to ask power customers to conserve energy thereby avoiding blackouts.

It's true that alerts are familiarly received on mobile phones. But urgent communications in cars are best transmitted to drivers through in-vehicle systems with distraction mitigation measures taken into account. In a car, there is the possibility or using a larger display hands-free or even a heads-up display - or even integrating an alert with location information such as evacuation routes.

The tornado warning I received in flight on my phone wasn't much use, but the kind of solutions contemplated for in-vehicle alerting with the help of integration partners such as Haas Alert, Xperi, or even SiriusXM can be lifesavers. Now that we are in the midst of hurricane season, the timing couldn't be better.