MoWaS

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Schematic representation of the functionality of the MoWaS

Today MoWaS ( Mo dulares Wa rn s ystem ), originally SatWaS called satellite-based warning system is the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance developed (BBK) system to warn the population in Germany for civil defense documents that the countries at the same time to warn of disasters available stands. With it, federal and state authorities can issue warnings so that authorities and the media can warn the population. In addition to the BBK offices, MoWaS is available in all situation centers of the state governments and their redundancy locations as well as in all integrated control centers in North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Schleswig-Holstein. In addition, 250 web-based accesses are available for authorized bodies (control centers, disaster control authorities, departments).

history

The federal and state governments agreed in 1992 to warn the population no longer with sirens but by radio. Up to this point there were almost 100,000 sirens in Germany. Some of these were dismantled, some of them were taken over by the municipalities, which z. B. to alert volunteer fire departments . As this meant that there was no longer any possibility of warning the population of dangers in very short succession, possible solutions were sought.

As a result, the federal government planned and set up the SatWaS. The first construction phase was completed in October 2001. Since then, the location of the center is BMI with transmission devices and the remote location centers of the interior ministries of the countries equipped with receiving devices so that they are informed of each prompted warnings. In contrast to the respective authorities, the investment costs for the media could be severely limited due to the existing satellite reception technology.

By the end of 2002, in a further expansion phase, situation centers of the interior ministries of the federal states were also equipped with transmission systems so that they in turn are able to pass on official danger announcements for their regions to the radio . On February 1, 2009, the "agreement of the interior ministers and senators of the federal and state governments and the broadcasting companies affiliated with ARD as well as DeutschlandRadio on official danger announcements and danger notifications via the satellite-based warning system of the federal government (SatWaS) to warn and inform the population present or imminent dangers in the event of disasters and in the event of a defense as well as other significant dangers to public safety "the previous agreement of 1992. According to the website of the responsible Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid (BBK), the warning center in Bonn (WarnZ Bonn ), the situation center of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the civil defense liaison offices, the 16 situation centers of the federal states, 45 supraregional and 80 local private broadcasters, an Internet portal operator and a paging service.

On October 21, 2011, mecom Medien-Communikations-Gesellschaft mbH was awarded the contract to modify the satellite-based warning system (SatWaS) into a modular warning system (MoWaS).

Purpose and function

The federal government is responsible for warning the population across the board in the event of a defense, i.e. in war. He had MoWaS developed and installed. A civil protection officer can use MoWaS to trigger the warning devices available in his area of ​​responsibility in one operation. In MoWaS, warning messages are supplemented with behavior recommendations for those affected.

MoWaS can simultaneously transmit individual reports across Germany to all connected broadcasters and other media. Messages can be transmitted in different warning levels. Warnings of warning level 1 include, in particular, the request to the editors to interrupt the current program and to pass on the text of the warning announcement immediately via the transmitter and to repeat it regularly as long as no all-clear or other instructions have been given.

In addition to the warning function, MoWaS contains a highly available text communication system with which messages can be exchanged between the MoWaS stations. This communication path between all MoWaS full stations takes place via the satellite connection and thus works even if terrestrial communication links fail.

The federal government makes MoWaS available to the federal states for disaster control purposes. This serves on the one hand to use budget funds economically, but also to establish the warning system among the population. All 16 federal states make use of this possibility. In addition, the German Weather Service uses MoWaS to transmit warnings of extreme weather events to the media.

Recipients and use cases

The rapid transmission of hazard announcements is ensured by a large number of warning multipliers and warning devices:

Except for the pager service and (to a certain extent) the train, a conscious fetching of the messages is necessary. Because the sirens were decommissioned or dismantled in many places, there was no nationwide alarm option. For this reason, a system was developed which, as a signal transmitter, activates the signal horns of parked cars in order to achieve a “wake-up effect”.

Furthermore, a wake-up effect via radio clocks would be possible: In the time signal from the time transmitter DCF77, transmission capacities are available that are not directly required for time information. (See DCF77 - alarming ). At the moment, however, the siren is once again prevailing in many cities and districts as the alarm device with the best waking effect. In many places the system was rebuilt or modernized. The connection of sirens to MoWaS is currently being implemented. A receiver module for household smoke detectors was also developed.

In a project funded by the EU and co-financed by the federal government and the federal states, the topic of “warning the population” and in particular the modular warning system is being further developed. This includes, among other things, the next MoWaS version (2.0) and an internet-based portal via which authorized bodies can transmit warning messages to the MoWaS full stations and trigger the BBK's NINA (app) .

The first practical application of MoWaS was hurricane Xaver in December 2013 . In 2017, 250 warning messages were sent via MoWaS. In 2018 there were over 850 alerts.

Connection of the radio and telemedia providers

The basis for the cooperation between the federal government, the federal states and the broadcasters is an international treaty from 2009. The federal government and the federal states use the right to issue warnings to the broadcasters under the broadcasting and telemedia treaty as well as the state media laws and the ZDF state treaty back.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Agreement on official hazard announcements via SatWaS between the federal government, the federal states, ARD stations and Deutschlandradio dated November 21, 2008
  2. ↑ Flyer warning the population with the satellite-based warning system of the BMI, as of 2010 (PDF, 200KB)
  3. ↑ Announcement of the tender of the procurement office of the BMI
  4. ^ Information on the participation of the DWD in the modular warning system of the BBK (MoWaS) Deutscher Wetterdienst from January 21, 2018, accessed on September 28, 2018.
  5. ↑ Siren test alarm on September 14, 2017 - Hamburg Interior Authority - FHH. Retrieved April 15, 2019 .
  6. ↑ PM at the BBK
  7. ↑ Warning portal of the BBK
  8. ↑ Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid - ISF federal-state project warning the population. Retrieved April 9, 2018 .
  9. ↑ How citizens are informed about dangers ( Memento from April 10, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), MDR.DE, September 28, 2017