Alerting over satellite navigation systems: lessons learned and future challenges

Public warning in emergency situations has experienced great momentum in recent years due to the increasing need for suitable communication means to disseminate alerts due to the increasing number of natural and technological disasters, as well as the consequent damage created and number of people affected by them. This goes along with a number of activities that promote multi-channel approaches to make use of different communication channels to disseminate alerts. However, only a little work has been performed so far considering the use of satellite communications in the last mile within a multichannel architecture for alerting purposes. This article addresses the feasibility and impact of deploying alert message services over satellite navigation systems.