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Characterizing the Limitations of Third-Party EAS Over Cellular Text Messaging Services
Title: Characterizing the Limitations of Third-Party EAS Over Cellular Text Messaging Services
Date: September, 2008
Author: Patrick Traynor, Ph.D.
Institution: George Institute of Technology
Bibliographic Entry:
Patrick Traynor. “Characterizing the Limitations of Third-Party EAS Over Cellular Text Messaging Services.” George Institute of Technology. September, 2008
http://safetyservices.ucdavis.edu/emergency-management/dru-media/Characterizing_the_Limitations%20of%203rd%20Party%20EAS.pdf (Accessed December 16, 2008)
Electronic Link: http://safetyservices.ucdavis.edu/emergency-management/dru-media/Characterizing_the_Limitations%20of%203rd%20Party%20EAS.pdf
Key Words: sms messaging, reliability, limitations
Summary of Key Points, Issues, Conclusions:
SMS text messaging is set to become the dominant form of communication in the United States, particularly for the dissemination of critical information during emergencies. SMS is increasingly viewed as a reliable means of communication when other methods fail or are unavailable. Accordingly, numerous colleges, universities, and municipalities have begun purchasing SMS-based emergency messaging services in hopes to effectively notify and protect the general public in the event of an emergency. However, the author contends that such systems rarely work as advertised.
In this report, the author demonstrates the limitations of third party Emergency Alert Systems (EAS). The author observes that, “because of the architecture of cellular networks, such systems will not be able to deliver a high volume of emergency messages in a short period of time.” The paper also uses discussing and modeling to demonstrate “that current systems not only can not widely disseminate such messages quickly, but also that the addition traffic created by third party EAS may disrupt other traffic such as voice communications, including that of emergency responders or the public to 9-1-1 services.”
Name of Researcher: Oludayo Olusanya
Institution: Integrative Center for Homeland Security, Texas A&M University
Date Posted: 01/08/2009