<p>Cell Broadcast (CB) is a possible technical realisation of a global emergency alert system. It is a technique used for sending short text messages to all mobile stations (MSs) in a defined geographical area. An potential effect of using CB is the increase in battery consumption of the MS due to the fact that an extra channel has to be used to make the service available even when the network is otherwise congested. Another part of the service which leads to a potential problem is making CB messages available in different languages. Investigating these problems is the objective of this thesis and the studies it includes. During the first part of the thesis, we measured the battery consumption of MSs in different modes of operation in order to analyse how CB affects the amount of current drained. The tests showed that battery consumption increased only slightly when CB messages were being received at the MS. Although some of the results can be, and are, discussed, we believe that CB would have a small effect on the power consumption of an MS, particularly in a context where it would be used for emergency warning messages only. This mentioned, it would however be wishful to confirm the conclusions further through the realisation of long-term testing. The second part of the thesis deals with the investigation of the MSs’ support for CB messages with different coding schemes. Based on the investigation’s result, we have come to the conclusion that in the long term the usage of different coding schemes on the same channel is preferred. However, the usage of one, global, emergency channel is hard to realise since that requires a standardisation between all countries. In our opinion this may be achieved first in the long run and until then, the usage of separate channels seems to be necessary.</p>

Cell Broadcast (CB) is a possible technical realisation of a global emergency alert system. It is a technique used for sending short text messages to all mobile stations (MSs) in a defined geographical area. An potential effect of using CB is the increase in battery consumption of the MS due to the fact that an extra channel has to be used to make the service available even when the network is otherwise congested. Another part of the service which leads to a potential problem is making CB messages available in different languages. Investigating these problems is the objective of this thesis and the studies it includes. During the first part of the thesis, we measured the battery consumption of MSs in different modes of operation in order to analyse how CB affects the amount of current drained. The tests showed that battery consumption increased only slightly when CB messages were being received at the MS. Although some of the results can be, and are, discussed, we believe that CB would have a small effect on the power consumption of an MS, particularly in a context where it would be used for emergency warning messages only. This mentioned, it would however be wishful to confirm the conclusions further through the realisation of long-term testing. The second part of the thesis deals with the investigation of the MSs’ support for CB messages with different coding schemes. Based on the investigation’s result, we have come to the conclusion that in the long term the usage of different coding schemes on the same channel is preferred. However, the usage of one, global, emergency channel is hard to realise since that requires a standardisation between all countries. In our opinion this may be achieved first in the long run and until then, the usage of separate channels seems to be necessary.

<p>Cell Broadcast is a relatively old technique within the GSM-network which makes it possible to broadcast text messages to one or more cells in the network. As efforts in Sweden have been made to develop both traffic safety and information technology, the automotive telematics market is predicted to grow rapidly in the near future. The characteristics of Cell Broadcast make it especially suitable for automotive telematics services. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate possible automotive telematics services based on Cell Broadcast and how these services can affect traffic safety. </p><p>The most important characteristics for Cell Broadcast in the automotive telematics market are close connection to the GSM/UMTS network, location-based information and information of push character. These characteristics allows the mobile operator to offer a number of automotive telematics services based on Cell Broadcast, some of them as service provider and some of them in joint ventures with car and mobile terminal manufacturers.</p>

Cell Broadcast is a relatively old technique within the GSM-network which makes it possible to broadcast text messages to one or more cells in the network. As efforts in Sweden have been made to develop both traffic safety and information technology, the automotive telematics market is predicted to grow rapidly in the near future. The characteristics of Cell Broadcast make it especially suitable for automotive telematics services. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate possible automotive telematics services based on Cell Broadcast and how these services can affect traffic safety. The most important characteristics for Cell Broadcast in the automotive telematics market are close connection to the GSM/UMTS network, location-based information and information of push character. These characteristics allows the mobile operator to offer a number of automotive telematics services based on Cell Broadcast, some of them as service provider and some of them in joint ventures with car and mobile terminal manufacturers.

Mozambique is one of the countries most affected by natural hazards in the world. Therefore it can benefit greatly from enhancements on its early warning system. Cell broadcast, which is a technology able to send simultaneous alert messages to all mobile phones in a geographical area has gained attention of emergency authorities since various catastrophes in the years 2000’s and increasing diffusion of the mobile network. This research has looked into the disaster risk management routines in Mozambique, interviewing relevant institutions, to identify the currently in use early warning system and analyze the circuit of information from detecting a hazard until the transmission of alert messages to the population. The goal of this research has been to identify how alert messages are sent to the population and, based on currently available infrastructure, analyze the possibilities to use Cell Broadcast to target alerts to all subscribers on specific geographic zones. It has been identified that the country already uses a solution that sends SMS to a list of phone numbers registered in a database. Nonetheless, telecommunication operators in the country are willing to cooperate with emergency authorities to design a solution in which Cell Broadcast can be used to strategically target alerts to subscribers at designated areas of risk. In this way, enabling enhanced accuracy and efficiency of the public alert system in Mozambique, with reduced time between detection and the simultaneously delivery of public alert messages to the entire population or only to people located on relevant geographic zones. Furthermore, the results also allowed to speculate on the viability of automated solutions, which can be used in combination to the enhancements that Cell Broadcast can bring to disaster risk management routines.