Public warning systems

For the delivery of public warning, there appears to be no single solution that fits all the requirements for the timely notification of an emergency incident or situation. Therefore, a Public Warning System (PWS) ought to be a blend of the best attributes of the existing technologies, adapted to the particular demands of the country or territory in question. In 2018, article 110 of the European Electronic Communications Code made it mandatory for all the Member States of the European Union to deploy a Public Warning system using telephone networks to alert everyone located in a specific area of an ongoing crisis or upcoming disaster1, by June 2022. This document presents an investigation of the various technologies that are available for public warning. It enables a comparison between the different technologies in use today and of those being considered, through initiatives in many countries, for the deployment of next-generation PWS.