HeatWave Alerts with C-DOT’s Common Altering Protocol (CAP)

Heat Waves to Severe! Have you ever received such messages? Wonder where it’s coming from? What technology are they using to predict it? 

At a time when natural and man-made disasters are increasingly prevalent, the need for an efficient and reliable public alert system is paramount. In this case, the Common Altering Protocol (CAP) compliant Public Alert System developed by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) stands out as a state-of-art, multi-purpose, and multi-channel platform designed to provide targeted alerts before, during, and after incidents such as cyclones, tsunamis, floods, pandemics, and other disasters.

CAP: An Integrated Approach to Disaster Management

The CAP offers an integrated platform for seamless information exchange among forecasting agencies, disaster management authorities, and dissemination media.

This integration ensures that emergency alerts are consistent and disseminated in real-time, in Indian vernacular languages. The system automates the alerting process by targeting specific populations to ensure disaster alerts reach the right people at the right time.

The CAP complaint Public Alert System implements ITU-T x.1303 Common Altering Protocol that ensures consistent, real-time emergency alert information exchange among all stakeholders.

The system integrates with agencies such as the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Central Water Commission (CWC), Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Forest Survey of India (FSI), and Defense Geoinformatics Research Establishment (DGRE), among others. And disseminates alerts through various media, including SMS and Cell Broadcasts via Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), radio broadcasters, television and cable operators, railway passenger information systems, and coastal siren management systems.

The system also supports satellite Messaging services by integrating GAGAN and NavIC messaging services that ensure alerts reach areas where terrestrial communication is unavailable or disrupted.

How does the CAP-Integrated Alert System ensure last-mile reachability?

The CAP-Integrated Alert System ensures last-mile reachability through a multi-modal and multi-media approach that leverages various technologies to disseminate alerts to citizens in near real-time. This includes:

Geo-Targeted Alerts: The system uses geospatial technology to identify and target specific areas affected by disasters, ensuring that alerts are delivered to the right people at the right time.

Multi-Media Support: The dissemination of emergency alerts through multi-media channels exemplifies a robust and inclusive approach to public safety communication. By leveraging a diverse array of platforms, such as cell broadcasts, SMS, mobile apps, TV and radio, social media, RSS feeds, browser notifications, satellite communication, coastal sirens, and railway station announcements, authorities ensure that critical information reaches a wide audience effectively.

Multilingual Support: Alerts are sent in vernacular languages, ensuring that citizens understand the warnings and take necessary precautions.

Integration with Multiple Stakeholders: The system integrates over 100 stakeholders, including Alert Generating Agencies, Alert Approving Authorities, and Alert Disseminating Agencies, to ensure a comprehensive and coordinated approach to disaster management.

AI-Based Prediction and Analysis: The system employs AI-based subscriber prediction for targeted areas and AI-based alert message content analysis for effective communication, ensuring that alerts are tailored to the specific needs of the affected population.

Automated Alert Generation and Monitoring: The system automates the process of generating and disseminating alerts, ensuring timely and efficient communication. It also includes real-time monitoring and notification systems to ensure that alerts are delivered successfully.

By integrating these various technologies and stakeholders, the CAP-Integrated Alert System ensures that citizens receive timely and targeted warnings, enhancing disaster preparedness and response.

What role does AI play in the CAP-Integrated Alert System?

In the CAP-Integrated Alert System, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has a crucial role in enhancing the effectiveness of disaster management and alert dissemination. The system leverages AI in the following key areas:

AI-Based Subscriber Prediction: AI predicts subscribers in targeted areas, enabling authorities to efficiently send alerts to specific geographic locations.

AI-Based Alert Message Content Analysis: AI is employed to analyze alert message content effectively, ensuring that messages are tailored to the specific needs of the affected population, thereby enhancing communication and response strategies.

Data-Driven Decision Support System: The system includes a data-driven citizen-centric Decision Support System that assists disaster managers in completing impact assessments of disaster events. This is achieved by configuring decision models developed by learning inter-relationships of different parameters, enabling better decision-making during disasters.

Crowdsourced Data Analysis: AI capabilities are utilized to analyze crowdsourced data, providing valuable insights into disaster impact and aiding decision-making processes.

Complete Analysis of Disaster Events: AI is instrumental in providing a comprehensive analysis of disaster events in all phases of disaster management. This includes predicting the scope of alerts, evaluating the impact of alert messages on targeted vulnerable populations, and generating threat maps and dashboards for a holistic view of the situation.

Enhanced Communication Means Identification: AI helps identify possible communication means to address community outreach effectively, ensuring that alerts reach the targeted public through various communication channels.

Conclusion

By integrating AI into the CAP-Integrated Alert System, authorities can improve the accuracy, timeliness, and effectiveness of disaster alerts, leading to better disaster preparedness, and response coordination, and ultimately, reducing the impact of disasters on communities.

With a focus on last-mile reachability, data privacy, and prevention of unauthorized access to alert data, CAP solutions stand as a beacon of innovation in the field of disaster management. Through its multilingual support, integration with multiple stakeholders, and automated alert generation capabilities, the CAP system enhances the country's preparedness and response to natural disasters, ultimately saving lives and minimizing the impact of emergencies on communities.