Mass notification system used by military adapted for campus use

“If you have scrolling LED signs we can display a message over that. We can monitor fire alarm systems, chemical or biological detection, close gates. It’s virtually limitless what we can program WAVES to do,” said Kyle Berry, a technical demonstrator with Cooper Notification.

The system only consists of the WAVES station and the base trailer, but Berry calls it “very advanced in a very little package.” The tower with the speaker array is mounted on a 7ft. wide by 12 ft. long mobile trailer. The entire field station stands 32 ft. when fully erect from the base of the trailer to the tip of tower. It is only powered by four batteries recharged by solar panels and a back-up generator if necessary.

The real power comes from the wireless frequency on which the MSN operates. The system uses a 2.4 GHz digital spread-spectrum frequency licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, sending out any message from the Waves station over four channels. With the signals alternating between different frequencies every 11 milliseconds, it is virtually impossible to jam, Berry said.

“If you’re on a fixed frequency $50 and 10 minutes on the Internet—go down to Radio Shack—and you can jam a fixed frequency very easily, but when you’re doing 90 hops per second, it’s very hard to nail,” he added.

The nearly indestructible system that cannot be jammed has proven itself to the U.S. military. The paging towers and technology used by the MNS has been used exclusively by the U.S. Department of Defense for about 10 years, according to Nordlund.

“The military uses it a lot on their current communication systems. They’re very familiar with it and it’s the most secure means of wireless radio transmission out there today,” Weaver said.

But now the technology is being adapted in a digestible package for mass communication specifically for campuses and small cities, Nordlund said. According to Berry, the MNS is even being used for festivals like in Arlington County, Va.

Contech MSI Co. provides fire alarm design, installation, service, and testing. Cooper Notification produces mass security systems.