Digital Emergency Alert System

<p>The Digital Emergency Alert System (DEAS) was a system managed by the <a href="/facts/Federal_Emergency_Management_Agency/JUa8guyo">Federal Emergency Management Agency</a> (FEMA) and designed to alert first-responders and civilians in the event of a national emergency.  It was based upon and supplemented the <a href="/facts/Emergency_Alert_System/2gzJnnwF">Emergency Alert System</a> (EAS) by sending out text, voice, video, and other digital messages to mobile phones, pagers, radios, and televisions.
</p><p>Although the Emergency Alert System and its predecessor, the <a href="/facts/Emergency_Broadcast_System/WBX9Br85">Emergency Broadcast System</a> and an even earlier predecessor <a href="/facts/CONELRAD/ycuAJNYo">CONELRAD</a>, have always allowed the transmission of both video and audio, there have been limitations that would be eliminated by the DEAS.  For example, the DEAS allowed the ability to broadcast "bottomless" audio messages (i.e. a message with no definite ending) and streaming video.  It also allowed near-instantaneous transmission without the delays that occur as EAS alerts trickle through the system.
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Digital Emergency Alert System open-in-new

Digital Emergency Alert System