A Blog dedicated to Declutter 3GPP specifications

Saturday, November 7, 2020

Enhancements of Public Warning System - Rel 16


The ePWS feature enhances the Public Warning System by defining behaviours for UEs with no user interface or with a user interface that is incapable of displaying text-based Warning Notifications and providing how to improve the comprehension of a Warning Notification to users with disabilities who have UEs supporting assistive technologies beyond text assistive technologies and users who are not fluent in the language of the Warning Notifications. In addition, additional requirements are specified for PWS-UEs and ePWS-UEs that play the role of a relay UE or a remote UE to conform behaviours when receiving a Warning Notification via the relay functionality. The requirements can be found in 3GPP TS 22.268 [1] and corresponding solutions in 3GPP TS 23.041 [2].

 

Additional requirements for an enhanced Public Warning System (ePWS) are specified as an update to Technical Specification (TS) 22.268 [1].

3GPP Public Warning Systems were first specified in Release 8, allowing for direct warnings to be sent to mobile users on conventional User Equipment (PWS-UE), capable of displaying a text-based and language-dependent Warning Notification.

Since that time, there has been a growth in the number of mobile devices with little or no user interface - including wrist bands, sensors and cameras – many of which are not able to display Warning Notifications. The recent growth in the number of IoT devices - not used by human users – also highlights the need for an alternative to text based Warning Notifications. If those devices can be made aware of the type of incident (e.g. a fire or flood) in some other way than with a text message, then they may take preventive actions (e.g. lift go to ground floor automatically).

The ePWS feature also specifies how graphical symbols or images can now be used to better disseminate Warning Notifications, specifically aimed at the following categories of users:

-    Users with disabilities who have UEs supporting assistive technologies beyond text assistive technologies; and

-    Users who are not fluent in the language of the Warning Notifications.

Much of the work on enhancing the Public Warning System is set out in the ePWS requirements in 3GPP TS 22.268 [1] and in ePWS protocol solutions in 3GPP TS 23.041 [2] in Release 16, covering:

-    Specifying Message Identifiers for ePWS-UE, especially IoT devices that are intended for machine type communications

-    Enabling language-independent content to be included in Warning Notifications

The work on ePWS in 3GPP TS 22.268 [1] and 3GPP TS 23.041 (Release 16) is expected to help manufacturers of User Equipment meet any future regulatory requirements dedicated to such products.

Requirements defined for PWS-UEs in clause 4 of 3GPP TS 22.268 [1] are applicable for ePWS-UEs unless dedicated ePWS-UE requirements described in clause 9 of 3GPP TS 22.268 [1] supersede them.

 

References

[1] TS 22.268, Public Warning System (PWS) requirements

[2] TS 23.041, Technical realization of Cell Broadcast Service (CBS)

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