DL - 4G Americas

The FCC CMAS First Report and Order 132 specifies the rules and architecture for CMAS. The FCC CMAS
Second Report and Order 133 establishes CMAS testing requirements and describes the optional capability
for Noncommercial Educational (NCE) and public broadcast television stations distribute geo-targeted
CMAS alerts. The FCC CMAS Third Report and Order 134 defined the CMAS timeline, subscriber
notification requirements for CMSPs, procedures for CMSP participation elections and the rules for
subscriber opt-out. The FCC also issued a CMAS Reconsideration and Erratum document 135 between the
issuance of the second and third Report & Order documents.
The CMAS network will allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to accept and
aggregate alerts from the President of the United States, the National Weather Service (NWS), and state
and local emergency operations centers, and then send the alerts over a secure interface to participating
commercial mobile service providers (CMSPs). These participating CMSPs will then distribute the alerts
to their users.
As defined in the FCC CMAS Third Report and Order, CMSPs that voluntarily choose to participate in
CMAS must begin an 18 month period of development, testing and deployment of the CMAS no later than
ten months from the date that the Government Interface Design specifications available. On December 7,
2009, the CMAS timeline of the FCC CMAS Third Report and Order was initiated with the
announcement 136 by FEMA and the FCC that the Joint ATIS/TIA CMAS Federal Alert GW to CMSP GW
Interface Specification (J-STD-101) has been adopted as the Government Interface Design specification
referenced in the FCC CMAS Third Report and Order.
Participating CMSPs must be able to target alerts to individual counties 137 and ensure that alerts reach
customers roaming outside a provider’s service area. Participating CMSPs must also transmit alerts with
a dedicated vibration cadence and audio attention signal. Emergency alerts will not interrupt calls in
progress. CMAS supports only English text-based alert messages with a maximum displayable message
size of 90 English characters.
For purposes of CMAS, emergency alerts will be classified in one of three categories:
1. Presidential Alerts. Any alert message issued by the President for local, regional, or national
emergencies and are the highest priority CMAS alert
2. Imminent Threat Alerts. Notification of emergency conditions, such as hurricanes or tornadoes,
where there is an imminent threat to life or property and some immediate responsive action
should be taken
3. Child Abduction Emergency/AMBER Alerts. Alerts related to missing or endangered children
due to an abduction or runaway situation
132 FCC 08-99, Federal Communications Commission First Report and Order In the Matter of The Commercial Mobile Alert System,
Federal Communications Commission, 9 April 2008, .
133 FCC 08-164, Federal Communications Commission Second Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking In
the Matter of The Commercial Mobile Alert System, 8 July 2008, .
134 FCC 08-184, Federal Communications Commission Third Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking In the
Matter of The Commercial Mobile Alert System;7 August, 2008 and is available from the Federal Communications Commission.
.
135 FCC 08-166, Federal Communications Commission Order on Reconsideration and Erratum In the Matter of The Commercial
Mobile Alert System, 15 July 2008 and is available from the Federal Communications Commission. .
136 http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=50056.
137 The county geocode information will be present in all CMAS alert messages sent to CMSPs. If available, more granular
geographic targeting information such as polygons or circles will be included in the CMAS messages. It is a voluntary option of the
CMSPs to use the finer granular geographic targeting information.
www.4gamericas.org February 2011 Page 116