The IPAWS Program Management Office (PMO) provides public safety officials with a controlled IPAWS testing environment where alert and warning technologies can be exercised to assess capabilities and effectiveness with IPAWS.
The closed IPAWS environment is capable of demonstrating alert dissemination to all IPAWS pathways including the Emergency Alert System (EAS), Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), Non-Weather Emergency Messages (NWEM), the IPAWS All-Hazards Information Feed, and Collaborative Operating Groups (COG). The primary purpose for testing within the IPAWS Lab environment is for public safety officials to gain confidence using IPAWS in a safe and closed environment. Additional purposes include functional assessment, alert dissemination validation, training, procedural and process evaluation, and the establishment of functional requirements.
What capabilities exist at the IPAWS Lab?
- An interactive and closed IPAWS testing environment
- Exercise and training to increase familiarity and gain confidence using IPAWS
- Independent alert validation tool (IPAWS Message Viewer)
- Functional assessments
- Developmental assessments
- Demonstrations
- Dedicated staff who support testing and are available for troubleshooting
- Conference center to host webinars, training, and technical demonstrations
The IPAWS Lab is located at the Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) in Indian Head, Maryland. JITC, a command of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), is an independent testing agency that provides the FEMA IPAWS PMO with interoperability and functional assessments, operational tests, IPAWS demonstrations, and overall technical support.
There are three methods to test with the IPAWS Lab at JITC: on-site, off-site, and independently. The IPAWS PMO released a "Checklist for Testing with the IPAWS Lab at JITC" which is provided to alerting authorities when their demo certificate is issued. The checklist is designed to provide best practices for testing alert and warning technologies within the IPAWS Lab environment. The IPAWS PMO also conducted a recorded webinar “Testing with the IPAWS Lab at JITC” which can be reviewed by anyone interested in testing IPAWS.
For alerting authorities wanting to test independently, the IPAWS PMO has developed an IPAWS Message Viewer. The Message Viewer enables authorized alerting authorities to practice writing and sending IPAWS messages in a closed non-production demonstration and training environment at the IPAWS Lab at JITC. For a copy of the IPAWS Message Viewer Instructions, please email the PMO at ipaws@fema.dhs.gov.
The IPAWS Lab is a safe and effective environment for public safety officials to test and exercise alert and warning technologies interoperable with IPAWS. Training within the IPAWS Lab environment will increase the confidence of alerting authorities, ensuring that if they need to send an actual alert to the public, they will be able to do so quickly and effectively.
Contact the IPAWS PMO at ipaws@fema.dhs.gov with any questions about using or connecting to the testing and exercise environment.