LYONDONVILLE, N.Y.— Independent broadcast company DTV America is deploying the latest DASDEC-II emergency messaging platforms from Digital Alert Systems at its numerous low-power TV sites across the United States. DTV America holds LPTV licenses in 80 markets, and it is rolling out the DAS units to leverage the technically advanced EAS/CAP capabilities (text, audio and still pictures) while ensuring reliable centralized control of EAS units installed across DTV America's transmission sites.
The network-centric DASLPTVR integrates three key features—monitoring radios, EAS decoder, and CAP decoder—into a single 2 RU box. DTV America purchased the new DAS technology after finding that the devices first installed in its initial EAS/CAP deployments couldn't provide an MPEG output or support IP-based message aggregation. The company then began deploying the DASDEC-II LPTV decoder with built-in radios (DASLPTVR) and integrated MPEG encoding online, and has plans for integrating this technology in multiple markets through 2015.
The network-centric DASLPTVR integrates three key features—monitoring radios, EAS decoder, and CAP decoder—into a single 2 RU box with a secure browser-based interface and an architecture that supports simultaneous monitoring and user access with tiered security. The system's internal triple tri-band (AM/FM/WX) high-performance receivers are fully adjustable via the web-browser user interface, and its optional four independent Ethernet ports enhance network performance by splitting network traffic among the ports.
By presenting EAS text and audio as an MPEG stream for direct insertion into digital broadcast streams, the internal MPEG encoding option saves DTV America and others money and reduces the complexity of EAS/CAP compliance operations.
