Cell Broadcast
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Cell Broadcast (CB) messaging is a mobile technology feature defined by the ETSI’s GSM committee and is part of the GSM standard. It is also known as Short Message Service - Cell Broadcast (SMS-CB). Cell Broadcast is designed for simultaneous delivery of messages to multiple users in a specified area. Whereas the Short Message Service - Point to Point (SMS-PP) is a one-to-one and one-to-a-few service, Cell Broadcast is a one-to-many geographically focused messaging service. Cell Broadcast messaging is also supported by UMTS, as defined by 3GPP.
Cell Broadcast messaging was technologically demonstrated in Paris for the first time, in 1997. By now all GSM phones and mobile operator base stations support the feature. Some mobile operators use Cell Broadcast for communicating the area code of the antenna cell to the mobile user (via channel 050), for nationwide or citywide alerting, weather reports, mass messaging, location based news, etc. Not all operators have the Cell Broadcast messaging function activated in their network yet.
Cell Broadcast is a technology that allows a text or binary message to be defined and distributed to all mobile terminals connected to a set of cells. Whereas SMS messages are sent point-to-point, Cell Broadcast messages are sent point-to-area. This means that one Cell Broadcast message can reach a huge number of terminalsa at once. In other words, Cell Broadcast messages are directed to radio cells, rather than to a specific terminal. A Cell Broadcast message is an unconfirmed push service, meaning that the originator of the message does not know who has received the message, allowing for services based on anonymity. Mobile telephone user manuals describe how the user can switch the receiving of Cell Broadcast messages on or off.
Cell Broadcast messaging has a number of features that make it particularly appropriate for emergency purposes:
- It is already resident in most network infrastructure and in the mobile phones, so there is no need to build any towers, lay any cable, write any software or replace terminals.
- It is not affected by traffic load; therefore, it will be usable during a disaster when load spikes tend to crash networks, as the 7 July 2005 London bombings showed. Another example was during the Tsunami catastrophe in Asia. Dialog GSM, an operator in Sri Lanka was able to provide ongoing emergency information to its subscribers, to warn of incoming waves, to give news updates, to direct people to supply and distribution centres, and even to arrange donation collections using Celltick's Cell Broadcast Center, based on Cell Broadcast Technology. Also it does not itself cause any significant load on the network, so would not add to the problem.
- It is geo-scalable, so a message can reach hundreds of millions of people across continents within a short time.
- It is also geo-specific, so government disaster managers can avoid panic and road jamming by telling people in each area whether they should evacuate or remain.
Cell Broadcast is a mobile technology that allows messages (up to 15 pages of up to 93 characters) to be broadcast to all mobile handsets and similar devices within a designated geographical area. The broadcast range can be varied, from a single cell to the entire network.
This technology is used in deploying location-based subscriber services, such as regional auctions, local weather, traffic conditions and 'nearest' services (like requesting the nearest hospital). It enables messages to be communicated to multiple mobile phone customers who are located within a given part of its network coverage area at the time the message is broadcast.
[edit] Technology
Cell Broadcast messages originate from a Cell Broadcast Entity (CBE). CBEs are usually connected to a Content Casting Center (CCC), which is in turn connected to the Cell Broadcast Centre. Cell Broadcast messages are then sent from the Cell Broadcast Centres to the cells, in accordance with the CBS's coverage requirements. Advanced infrastructures make use of GIS-based interfaces for definition of the used areas.
A Cell Broadcast message page comprises 82 octets, which, using the default character set, equates to 93 characters. Up to 15 of these pages may be concatenated to form a Cell Broadcast message. Each page of such a CB message will have the same message identifier (indicating the source of the message), and the same serial number. Using this information, the mobile telephone is able to identify and ignore broadcasts of already received messages.
[edit] Footnotes
- Note a: A "terminal" in this context is a "mobile terminal" or any device (usually a mobile telephone) which can receive voice or data via the GSM network.
