Australian emergency radio override tests lead to US military sales

The north-east Victorian village of Eldorado has been the venue for a successful demonstration of radio override technology to the US Department of Defense.

On three separate occasions, Melbourne-based Emergency Warning Systems (EWS) has selected Eldorado as the location for demonstrations of its patented radio override technology designed to alert and advise people at risk in an emergency.

The technology detects all FM radio stations operating in a hyper-local target zone to allow responsible authorities to over-broadcast the radio station signal with the necessary emergency message.

EWS’s director of business development, Geoff Drucker, said, “The US delegation was impressed with the capabilities of our technology and we have now been advised that we will be supplying units for further evaluation with a view to the system being customised to meet their needs.”

US Department of Defense Project Manager Rey Garcia said, “We will be procuring prototype units of the EWS mobile and transportable systems to test and discover further applications for the military information support operations (MISO) community.”

Drucker said, “One of the compelling features of our technology to the delegation was its ability to over-broadcast up to 24 radio stations simultaneously.

“Previously at Eldorado our technology has been demonstrated to the Emergency Management Commissioner, Craig Lapsley, and to Telstra which provides the SMS messaging service Emergency Alert.

“Eldorado is our preferred demonstration venue because it is in a mobile phone blackspot so the emergency alert system will not reach residents and visitors when a threat looms.

“While we need a legislative amendment to be passed by the federal Parliament to allow our technology to be deployed in Australia, there has been strong support from the CFA where different opportunities have been suggested for the technology to be deployed throughout the state once the legislative impediment is removed.

“This regulatory process is currently being managed by the Minister for Communications, Malcolm Turnbull, who has received requests from the Victorian Government to allow responsible authorities to have access to the technology without delay when they believe there is a need in the interests of protecting lives and property.

“The endorsement for our technology from the US delegation is a major milestone for EWS and we look forward to cooperatively developing the technology further to allow it to be of benefit to mankind worldwide,” Drucker said.