Solution details
Platform:
Server
Description:
The Sound module of CE Server-Express maps where warning sirens can be heard, for a whole siren network. Civil protection offices, emergency services and municipalities use it to plan new siren networks, to check existing ones and to decide where a siren must be added, moved or upgraded, with figures they can defend in a budget discussion. Sirens are kept in CE Inventory3D, the same register as radio sites and repeaters. Each siren has a position, height, azimuth, tilt, frequency and sound power, and a horizontal and vertical directivity pattern managed like an antenna pattern, so sirens from different manufacturers are compared on equal terms. Values come from the datasheet, as is usual for civil-defence sirens under DIN VDE 0828-1: the level quoted at 30 m is converted to free-field sound power. Propagation follows ISO 9613-2: geometric divergence, atmospheric absorption, ground effect per land cover class, screening by terrain and buildings, source directivity and the meteorological correction C0. The same engine also implements CNOSSOS-EU, the method of the EU Environmental Noise Directive. Every receiver point uses its real terrain and obstacle profile from the organisation's own geodata, from 1 m resolution in towns. The Audibility calculation returns a sound pressure level raster and a raster of the loudest siren at each point. Thresholds such as 70 and 80 dB turn the map into audibility zones, and the statistics panel counts covered area or population per district. Calculations run on the server, with predictions in seconds, and results are published to the ArcGIS portal; on ArcGIS Enterprise this requires ArcGIS Image Server. Through the CE REST API, other systems can create and edit sirens and download the results as GeoTIFF. Planners compare siren positions, mast heights and upgrades before buying, find districts left in an acoustic shadow, and publish a public warning map. A county in Texas runs its outdoor warning sirens on CE Desktop with the Sound module and has given a signed reference letter.
Industries:
Homeland Security,Public Safety