ASIA-PACIFIC TELECOMMUNITY Document No:

The 27th Meeting of the APT Wireless Group AWG-27/TMP-08

(AWG-27)
22 – 30 March 2021, Virtual/Online Meeting 25 March 2021

TG PPDR

WORKING DOCUMENT TOWARDS A OF THE DRAFT NEW SURVEY REPORT ON

HOW TO ALERT THE PUBLIC BY CURRENT PUBLIC WARNING SERVICES
IN APT COUNTRIES

1. Introduction

Editor’s Note: This Section will be provided at the 28th Meeting of APT Wireless Group
(AWG-28).

2. Questionnaire

3. Summary of the responses

3.1 List of the respondents

Response on the Response on the

Questionnaire Questionnaire
No. Country/Territory
to the 26th Meeting of to the 27th Meeting of
AWG AWG
1 Afghanistan
2 Australia
3 Bangladesh (People’s Republic of)
4 Bhutan (Kingdom of)
5 Brunei Darussalam
6 Cambodia (Kingdom of)
7 China (People’s Republic of) X
8 Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea
9 Fiji (Republic of)
10 India (Republic of)
11 Indonesia (Republic of) X
12 Iran (Islamic Republic of)
13 Japan X
14 Kiribati (Republic of)
15 Korea (Republic of) X
16 Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Contact: Hyounhee KOO Email: st@synctechno.com
SyncTechno Inc., Republic of Korea
Rapporteur of 3GPP ePWS work item
 17 Malaysia X
18 Maldives (Republic of)
19 Marshall Islands (Republic of the)
20 Micronesia (Federated States of) X
21 Mongolia
22 Myanmar (Republic Union of) X (*)
23 Nauru (Republic of)
24 Nepal (Federal Democratic Republic
of)
25 New Zealand
26 Pakistan (Islamic Republic of)
27 Palau (Republic of)
28 Papua New Guinea X
29 Philippines (Republic of the)
30 Samoa (Independent State of)
31 Singapore (Republic of)
32 Solomon Islands
33 Sri Lanka (Democratic Socialist
Republic of
34 Thailand (Kingdom of)
35 Tonga (Kingdom of)
36 Tuvalu
37 Vanuatu (Republic of)
38 Viet Nam (Socialist Republic of)
* The response of Questionnaires from Myanmar was directly submitted to the Editor with the request
of keeping non-disclosure for the response.

3.2 Summary of the responses per questionnaire

Editor’s Note: This Section will be provided at the 28 th Meeting of APT Wireless Group
(AWG-28).

4. Public Warning Services over mobile IMT networks

In the event of a national disaster such as earthquakes, volcanic explosion, typhoon, tsunamis,
floods, and so on, it is very important to use a public alert system to provide people with
information about disasters. The public alert system called Public Warning System (PWS)
should be able to provide disaster information with a timely and accurate alarm, etc. in the event
of a national disaster or other emergency. The information through the public alert system is an
efficient and effective means to protect the lives and property of the people.
“Public Warning Systems” of European Emergency Number Association compares two
different flooding cases, with similar characteristics along the Rhine and the Meuse rivers in
1992-1994 and 1995; Ten people lost their lives and over 900 million US $ in damages occurred
during the first event, while the economic cost was reduced by almost a half, no lives were lost
during the 1995 flood. Based on the data in the publication, it is possible to state that effective
early warning systems have substantially reduced deaths and injuries from severe disasters.
National or local government should promptly transmit emergency information to the people
in the area when a national or a local disaster or amber warning is occurred. An emergency alert
should be delivered the disaster information immediately and concurrently to as many people as
possible. Therefore, radio, TV, satellite broadcasting, internet (web, email, social media, etc.),
siren, and mobile phone have been used as a means of transmitting an emergency alert
(SyncTechno, 2018; European Emergency Number Association, 2019).
Especially, a mobile phone has a capability to deliver an emergency alert immediately to the

AWG-27/TMP-08 Page 2 of 11
mobile phone users in the area where the disaster information is needed as well as to deliver the
emergency message to numbers of people simultaneously. Radio or TV cannot receive the
emergency alert when their powers are turned off, but a mobile phone has the advantage of
receiving a disaster alarm at any time unless the power is completely turned off. In addition,
advances in technology have further improved the functionality of mobile phones, enabling the
delivery of more diverse and instant disaster information.
4.1 CBS-based Public Warning Services
Public Warning System (PWS) is typically based on a Cell Broadcast System (CBS). CBS
adopts a communication method that sends text messages to numbers of mobile users through
mobile networks of 2G, 3G, 4G LTE and 5G with the same system structure and the same
communication protocol. That is, CBS is a method of transmitting text-based information
simultaneously, including the disaster situation to all mobile users in the designated area.
Generally, CBS-based system was developed to send emergency alert messages
simultaneously to all mobile devices within a base station called cells, using point-to-area
technique, as shown in Fig. 4-1. CBS-based systems are an effective method for the delivery of
short and critical emergency alerts to users in an affected area without the need for subscription
or determining the device’s location. Therefore, the CBS-based system is the most adoptable
means for authorized national, state, or local government authorities to send alert messages
regarding public warnings (SyncTechno, 2018; European Emergency Number Association,
2019).
Cell Broadcast (CB) has many advantages as a means of emergency alert; CBS-based PWS
provides a point-to-area service to broadcast text messages over mobile networks. CBS-based
PWS transmits a message to numbers of mobile phone users in any specific area simultaneously.
CBS-based PWS supports to display the alert message on the mobile phone automatically
without any user interaction. CB supports to send alert messages immediately to the users with
the information of the disasters and information about how to do and what to do, in the selected
language by the users. The mobile phones can be manipulated to receive alert message,
including all the visitors from other countries (5G Americas, 2018).

Fig. 4-1. Point-to-area service for CBS-based PWS [Source: 5G Americas White Paper-Public
Warning Systems in the Americas, 2018]

Just as CB transmits an emergency alert message based on text, SMS also has the same
function, to transmit a message based on text. However, CB uses a point-to-area transmission
method, whereas SMS uses a point-to-point transmission method. In other words, it targets a
specific phone number that wants two-way communication, not a number of unspecified mobile
phones in a specific area. Therefore, in a normal situation, it is usually possible to use a mobile
phone for sending and receiving texts using the SMS method. However, when a disaster occurs,

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the SMS method cannot withstand the enormous amount of traffic coming from transmission
and reception so that information delivery is inevitably delayed. On the other hand, in the CB-
based transmission method, the mobile phone only performs the function to receive messages
like broadcasting, so it is possible to immediately and simultaneously transmit an emergency
alert message to a large number of unspecified mobile phone users through the base stations in
any designated area.
Additionally, CBS-based PWS supports to deliver the message with a special standardized
ring tone and vibration, making the CB message instantly recognizable as an alert. CBS-based
PWS also allows in certain cases text-to-speech for the people with visual disabilities (European
Emergency Number Association, 2019).
As shown in Fig. 4-2., the same system structure and the same communication protocol
(CBS-based) principle could be applied to 2G, 3G, 4G LTE and 5G technology. The system
structure of 3GPP standard consists of ① government issued system (CBE), ② gateway
connecting the government issued system and the mobile communication system (GW), ③
mobile communication system (CBC, Core Network, Radio Access network, Terminal).

Fig. 4-2. Structure of CBS-based PWS in 3GPP standard [Source: SyncTechno Inc.]

It is already faced with a technical evolution of the 5G technology which has been driving a
new paradigm by changing technological environments. The evolution of 5G mobile
communication technology will change devices connected to 5G mobile communication
networks. That is, it is expected that not only mobile devices such as mobile phones, but also
other devices and Internet of Things will be connected to the 5G mobile communication
networks, as shown in Fig. 4-3. In this regard, the way to deliver public warning notifications
for disasters through a mobile communication network is also demanding a variety of new ways.

2G, 3G, 4G LTE

SMART CITIES
Text-based
Source:
Source:Entrepreneur ASIA PACIFIC
Entrepreneur
ASIA PACIFIC
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES SMART HOME

Source: THE CONVERSATION Source: ip.com

Source: THE
CONVERSATION

Fig. 4-3. Diverse of IoT devices connected to mobile network [Source: SyncTechno Inc.]

It is expected that the new technology helps the people who face language barrier issue
AWG-27/TMP-08 Page 4 of 11
resulting from the text-based public notifications. In addition, a variety of IT devices will be able
to relieve the people with disabilities from the inconvenience. To reflect these situations, many
different forms or roles, such as improvement of public notification services applied to the
device are specified in clause 9 of 3GPP TS 22.268 Release 16 [AWG-25/INP-39, The 25th
meeting of the APT Wireless Group, APT, 2019,
https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/22_series/22.268/].

4.2 Status of standardization for CBS-based PWS

4.2.1 Standardization progress for PWS

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) which is an international standards
organization established in 1998 developed an international standard for the CBS-based alert
message applicable to 2G, 3G, 4G LTE and 5G, in 2008. The general and specific requirements
of the CBS-based PWS were reflected in the technical specification 3GPP TS 22.268
https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/22_series/22.268/. The specific requirements of the
CBS-based PWS standard were based on the regional specifications of Japanese Earthquake and
Tsunami Warning System (ETWS) and those of the U.S. Commercial Mobile Alerting System
(CMAS), Korean Public Alert System (KPAS) and European Union Alert (EU-Alert). Table 4-
1. briefly shows the standardization progress of PWS in 3GPP.

Table 4-1. 3GPP standardization progress of PWS requirements

Date Country Release 3GPP works
Standardization of 3GPP TS 22.268, based on ETWS
Mar. 2008 Japan Release 8
requirements of Japan
Standardization of 3GPP TS 22.268, based on US FCC
Dec. 2008 US Release 9
regulatory requirements (CMAS/WEA)
Standardization of 3GPP TS 22.268, EU regulatory
Mar. 2011 EU Release 11
requirements (EU-Alert)
Standardization of 3GPP TS 22.268, Korean regulatory
Sept. 2011 Korea Release 10
requirements (KPAS)
Jun. 2017 US Release 14 Warning Notifications supporting up to 360 characters of
Alphabet for E-UTRAN, and containing URLs and/or phone
numbers (WEA 2.0)
Jun. 2018 US Release 15 Broadcasting CMAS Warning Notifications corresponding
CMAS Warning Notification Area(s) (WEA 3.0)
Sep. 2018 Korea Release 15 157 Korean characters (315 bytes) and two dedicated alerting
indication

4.2.2 Requirements for PWS Services

The public should receive timely and accurate alerts, warnings and critical information
regarding disasters, to enable the public to take appropriate action to protect lives and properties.
Cell broadcast can support to provide text-based alert message to the people through public
warning systems, and 3GPP has developed technical specifications of the requirements for CBS-
based public warning services which are specified in clause 4 to 8 of 3GPP TS 22.268.
The general requirements specify the rules so that the emergency alert message should be
delivered immediately and concurrently to numbers of mobile phone users in the area where the
emergency message providing authorities designate. In addition, the requirements regulate that
mobile phones support to receive and present warning notifications without any user interaction,
and to present the notifications in languages as designated by the warning notification provider.

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In accordance with regional/regulatory requirements of the warning notifications, the devices
should broadcast the emergency messages in multiple languages, and to support the users to
manipulate the devices.
The followings are selective specific requirements based on regional regulations or standards.
a) In Japan, the principal requirement of ETWS is a quick delivery of the alert message after
the occurrence of earthquake or tsunami. There are two types of notifications in ETWS
message delivery. Primary notification of ETWS stipulates to deliver the alert message to
the devices within 4 seconds. Because of the time constraint, primary notification conveys
small amount of data just indicating occurrence of earthquake or tsunami to be sent
quickly, by using paging command (5G Americas, 2018). Secondary notification delivers
large amount of information to instruct what to do/where to get help. Primary and
secondary notifications support to transmit the information about the occurrence of
earthquake, tsunami, earthquake and tsunami, test, and others.
b) The U.S. Congress signed to enact WARN Act in 2006 to provide the basis of legislative
and regulatory actions for the FCC to release several Report and Order rulings for CMAS.
In accordance with FCC 08-99 which was the FCC First Report and Order for the CMAS,
specific requirements of CMAS were specified to support three classes of warning
notifications; Presidential, Imminent Threat, and Public Safety. In addition, the maximum
length of the alert message was requested up to 90 characters of GSM 7-bit alphabet.
The maximum length of the warning message was updated to 360 characters of GSM 7-bit
alphabet, and Public Safety and State/Local WEA Test classes were added to the existed
classes, under the regulatory requirement of FCC 16-127
For FCC 18-4 proclaimed in 2018, device-based geo-fencing concept was applied to the
CMAS warning notification to adhere to the maximum 0.1 mile from CMAS warning
notification area(s).

c) Korean Public Alert System (KPAS) specific requirements were implemented in 2018
with advanced functionality to support up to 157 Korean characters corresponding 315
Bytes from 90 Korean characters corresponding 180 Bytes. In addition, KPAS added
requirement to support to receive warning notifications in various languages and to
receive KPAS messages in the additional languages based on the preferred language
setting.
d) EU-Alert supports three types of warning notifications, which are Alert message,
Advisory message and Amber alert. The Alert messages are divided into three levels, EU-
Alert Level 1, EU-Alert Level 2 and EU-Alert Level 3 depending on severity. The
Advisory messages have only one level.
Among the Alert messages, EU-Alert Level 1 has no option to refuse receiving alert
messages. For EU- Alert Levels 2 and 3, user can select the option to refuse receiving
alert messages. It is noted that EU-ALERT Level 1 is compatible with the Presidential
Alert in CMAS. EU-Alert Level 2 and 3 are compatible with Extreme and Severe Alerts,
respectively.

4.3 Testing Public Warning System

Testing PWS is one of the essential factors to ensure that the alert system shall work when
needed. The issue then is that the public would become used to the alert tones to the point of
becoming desensitized to them if such practice alerts are set off too often. Therefore, it may be
possible to test only the system whether the mobile operator’s infrastructure is working without

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actual sending message to the public. Sending SMS messages to specific test devices or sending
blank SMS is another way of testing PWS. An alternative way for testing is to minimize the test
area and to reduce the number of radio cells. The followings are examples of the testing.
Netherlands authorities have a test for NL-Alert CB system bi-annually. It is advertised in the
media during the week preceding the test. Dutch authorities also have a monthly siren test at
noon on the first Monday of each month.
Australian national system administrator tests the “Emergency Alert” PWS manually on the
hour, every day, 365 days a year. This is a localized test only to a set of pre-determined mobile
numbers. Given the frequent operations usage of the system, public testing is not required. All
enhancements to the system, such as the upgrade from 3G to 4G involved “Community Based
Trials” to involve the public at pre-determined locations across Australia. More examples of the
testing PWS can be found in the WEB site, https://eena.org/?s=public+warning.
Testing PWS may be scheduled on a regular basis. Before the test, it should be necessary to
inform of the test to the public to raise awareness around it. It is noted in some area or territories
to consider the jurisdiction of issuing warning messages to the public (European Emergency
Number Association, 2019).

4.4 Enhancements of PWS for the future demand

4.4.1 Standardization progress of ePWS

As mentioned in Section 4.1, the way of communicating between mobile devices and mobile
users will be diversified through the application of Internet of Things in the 5G era. Unlike
existing mobile devices, it is possible to predict the role changes of new types of devices.
Accordingly, it is necessary to provide an emergency alert service suitable for the characteristics
of new types of devices. This is the reason to improve and to enhance the current international
standard.
In 2015, taking these changes into account, 3GPP announced a schedule for the completed
standardization (release 16) to improve the Public Warning System by March 2020. Since 2016,
3GPP has developed international standard of ePWS (enhancement of public warning system). It
was intended to reflect the way of communication (user interface) in Internet of Things
applications in the changes due to the evolution of 5G technology. The role of an existing
mobile phone (make a voice call with the user's awareness and use text message) changes into
the role of new types of devices in 5G.
Table 4-2. 3GPP standardization progress of ePWS
Date Release 3GPP Standardizations
Mar. 2016 Release 16 Launching standardization of Enhancements of Public Warning System
Completion of standardization for 3GPP Stage 1 technical specification
Mar. 2018 Release 16
on ePWS (3GPP TS 22.268)
Completion of standardization for 3GPP Stage 2/3 technical
Jun. 2020 Release 16
specification on ePWS (3GPP TS 23.041)

The development of Release 16 Stage 1 Technical Specification (3GPP TS 22.268) was

completed in March 2018. Release 16 Stage 2/3 ePWS-CT (3GPP TS 23.041) was completed in
July 2020. Accordingly, all the stages of standardization have been fulfilled. Figure 4-4. shows
the work plan of Stage 2/3 ePWS.

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 Fig. 4-4. Work Plan of Stage 2/3 ePWS [Source: 3GPP CT Work Group1#124e]

4.4.2 Requirements for ePWS services

The standardization for 3GPP Stage 1 technical specification for ePWS was completed in
March 2018. It would be possible to summarize the service requirements which are specified in
clause 9 and 10 of the technical specification of 3GPP TS 22.268.
- Requirements defined for PWS-UEs are applicable for ePWS-UEs unless dedicated
ePWS-UE requirements described supersede them. Nevertheless, the service requirements
made on the premise of a mobile phone type terminal should be modified or changed to
the requirements suitable to the new type of device.
- It should be necessary to develop service requirements that apply to the existing phones
and other types of mobile devices (including things) which support the ePWS feature.
- Service requirements for the relay function that can be applied to both terminals
supporting the existing disaster character function and mobile devices supporting the
ePWS function.
ePWS is intended to improve the comprehension of a warning notification to the users with
disabilities who have UEs supporting assistive technologies beyond text assistive technologies
and users not fluent in the language of the warning notifications. General requirements demand
warning notification to be presented on the ePWS-UE upon reception and without any user
interaction.
In the technical specification, ePWS defines behaviors for UEs with no user interface or with
a user interface that is incapable of displaying text-based Warning Notifications when receiving
a Warning Notification. In addition, the technical specification describes that ePWS is intended
to improve the comprehension of a Warning Notification to the users with disabilities who have
UEs supporting assistive technologies beyond text-based technologies or the users who are not
fluent in the language of the Warning Notifications.

4.4.3 Further requirements for ePWS services

The standardization for 3GPP Stage 2 and Stage 3 technical specifications for ePWS was
completed in June 2020. The main issues of the technical specifications are ePWS
functionalities related to unicode-based symbols as the language independent contents mapping
to disasters and the ePWS disaster characteristics, including a stored language-independent
content referenced by warning message, addition of message identifiers for UEs with no user
interface.
CBS-based PWS architecture is specified in 3GPP TS 23.041, including principal system
framework and detailed protocols over 2G, 3G and LTE in 3GPP technical specifications. It is
found in the 3GPP WEB site, https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/23_series/23.041/.

AWG-27/TMP-08 Page 8 of 11
 To improve and complete standardization of unicode-based symbols and use them for public
warning services, 3GPP should coordinate with Unicode Consortium of ISO/JEC JTC1/SC2.
3GPP’s Liaison Statement was already sent to Unicode Consortium [TDoc C1-201043, 3GPP
TSG CT WG1, https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20078-n4710-liaison-stmt.pdf. The
cooperation between 3GPP and ISO/JEC JTC1/SC2 is necessary to proceed the standardization
related to unicode-based symbols, to improve the comprehension of text-based warning
messages for users not literate in the local languages.
Message identifier has a very important role to make the user terminal identify the disaster
related information which is sent by an authorized warning notification provider. If the user
terminal does not have user interface such as IoT or with a user interface that is incapable of
displaying text-based warning notifications, the role of message identifier becomes much more
important.
The technical specification 3GPP TS 23.041 defines several message identifiers for local
language as shown in Table 4-3. Message identifiers for additional languages are 4383 to 4395,
4397 and 4399, with the same contents (H. Koo, 2019).
Table 4-3. Message identifiers of public warning messages for local language
Message Level of US WEA alert Level of EU-Alert
identifier
4370 CMAS Presidential Level Alerts EU-Alert level 1
4371 CMAS Extreme Alerts EU-Alert level 2
4372
4373
4374
4375 CMAS Severe Alerts EU-Alert level 3
4376
4377
4378
4379 Child Abduction EU-Amber
4380 Required Monthly Test EU-Monthly Test
4381 CMAS-Exercise EU-Exercise
4382 CMSP-Reserved EU-Reserved
4396 CMAS Public Safety Alerts -
4398 CMAS State/Local WEA Test -
4400 Geo-fencing trigger messages -
4401- Intended as PWS range in future versions of 3GPP TS 23.041
6399

The message identifiers from 4401 to 4411 correspond to warning message dedicated to UEs
with no user interface and with ePWS functionality when disaster is corresponding to
“presidential level”, an earthquake, volcanic eruption, water disaster (e.g. flood, typhoon,
hurricane or tsunami) and any other defined disasters.

5. Public Warning Services over other networks (other than IMT)

5.1 Public Warning Services using IoT

oneM2M is one of global standards initiative for Machine to Machine Communications and
the Internet of Things. oneM2M produces a standard with development process
https://www.onem2m.org/. It brings together major telecom standards developing organizations
(SDOs) from the Americas, China, Europe, Japan, Korea, and India. oneM2M’s certification and
interoperability testing activities are important aspects of a standard. Members continue to add
new capabilities with support for edge computing, industrial, railway and vehicular needs in
Release 3 and the soon to be published Release 4.
oneM2M Technical Report TR-0001 Use Cases Collection contains various service cases that
can be applied. In particular, it includes the element technology necessary for information

AWG-27/TMP-08 Page 9 of 11
delivery services in the devastated area. The IoT service provider immediately recognizes the
situation through the devices in the area. It aims to perform the function of delivering emergency
information about what the publics should do and how to do it through disaster. IoT service
providers in disaster areas are aware of the disaster situation and damage (IEEE
Communications Standards Magazine, June 2020). Figure 4-5. shows the information delivery
services in the devasted area through IoT networks. The local user device immediately provides
the information needed to evacuate to a safe area. Some local public information is stored in
local data storage. By storing and maintaining, it is possible to prevent network failure in a
disaster situation.
The ITU-T SG20 has begun developing recommendations for a disaster notification framework
for smart cities and communities to improve disaster text services. ITU-T Q4/20 has focused on
various vertical services and applications for IoT and smart cities, and supporting platforms with
middleware functionalities like context/event management, autonomic service management and
business support capabilities. Since 2019, Q4/20 has completed the development of seven new
recommendations (IEEE Communications Standards Magazine, June 2020).

Fig. 4-5. Information delivery services in the devastated area [Source: oneM2M TR-0001]

6Conclusion

Editor’s Note: This Section will be provided at the 28th Meeting of APT Wireless Group
(AWG-28).

7References

A Study on the Improvement of Emergency Alert Message for 5G Service (5G 서비스 대비
긴급재난문자 개선방안 연구 (in Korean)), SyncTechno, 2018
Building the Standards for an IoT Future: Introducing oneM2M, Standard News, IEEE
Communications Standards Magazine, June 2020
Core Network and Terminals; Technical realization of Cell Broadcast Service (CBS), Technical
Specification Group, 3GPP TS 23.041, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (Release 16)
Koo, H., Proposal of a new work item on the survey for alerting means over IMT networks to
the public, AWG-25/INP-39, The 25th meeting of the APT Wireless Group, APT, 2019

AWG-27/TMP-08 Page 10 of 11
Public Warning System in the Americas, 5G Americas, July 2018
Public Warning System-update, European Emergency Number Association, 2019
Services and System Aspects; Public Warning System (PWS) Requirements, Technical
Specification Group, 3GPP TS 22.268, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (Release 16)

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