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Operation
Once the unit is properly configured as described above, the keyboard, video monitor and mouse used for
configuration is no longer required. These items, however, may remain connected for monitoring, future
configuration and local log access purposes. Monitoring and configuration may also be achieved by use of
an optional KVM switch, VNC technology or other remote access tools (may require additional setup
and/or hardware). Operation begins automatically upon unit power-on, boot up and initialization delay.
The CAP-DEC 1 will poll the specified CAP alert servers and attempt to process new alerts as described
below at a periodic interval. Alert summary logs, original XML CAP alert files and attached resource files
are stored locally in the CAPEAS directory of the storage device. Upon successful conversion from CAP
to EAS, the unit may print and/or email an alert report
based on the unit’s settings.
Note that these printed
reports do not necessarily replace required EAS logs.
Alert Feed Polling
The CAP-DEC 1 software will periodically poll the specified alert feeds to
check for new messages. Information about the polling status will be
displayed on the main software dialog within the
Progress Information
area.
The
Progress Information
section displays the current operation (e.g. waiting
to poll, reading feed, processing alerts). Also, the time stamps of the most
recent feed polling cycle, the most recent FEMA IPAWS feed update and the
most recent alert that was successfully processed are displayed. If the
Latest
Poll Time
timestamp is not within a few minutes of the current time, check to
make sure that there is not some situation (e.g. an improperly configured
printer) which is requiring user input to proceed.
Note that
Last Poll Time
and
Last Alert Processed
are displayed in local time
while
Last IPAWS Feed Update
is displayed directly in the format given by the
feed, which is UTC.
Message Processing
Once an alert has been received, the CAP-DEC 1
will verify the alert’s validity.
First, the unit will verify that the message conforms to Common Alerting
Protocol v1.2 specifications IPAWS Profile specifications and EAS-CAP
Implementation Guide (ECIG) specifications. If the alert message passes this
verification step, the message expiration date is checked to ensure that the
alert is current. Finally, the targeted area of the alert is checked against the
listening area list. The results of these checks are displayed in the
Msg
Verified
group box on the user interface. If the message is invalid for any
reason, the first reason for failure will be displayed.
Message Success
If the message passes all of the above checks and it is not a duplicate message, it is then translated into
an Emergency Alert System (EAS) header as per the ECIG and transmitted as FSK data tones from the
audio jack, along with any associated message audio. If no message audio resource file is associated with
the CAP alert and TTS is turned ON, the CAP-DEC 1 will
render the CAP “enhanced text” as the audio
portion of the message.
The message information is then recorded to the CAP log file. The EAS header, along with the individual