When seconds separate safety from catastrophe, the warning must reach every resident. In the near future, digital radios of the DAB+ standard will be added to familiar sirens and smartphone notifications. Paradoxically, it was the tragic events of past years that helped the technology, created in Franconia, achieve a long-awaited breakthrough and become part of the state security strategy.
This coming Thursday, March 12, 2026, at exactly 11:00 AM, the silence of German cities will be shattered by the simultaneous wailing of sirens. Millions of mobile phones across the country will respond with a sharp, piercing beep. This nationwide alert day is not just a formality, but a large-scale test of all communication channels. However, this time, emergency services personnel are closely monitoring the performance of their new tool. We are talking about radio receivers with ASA support, which, in the event of a real threat, are obliged to independently exit standby mode and broadcast emergency messages in a fully automatic mode. This innovation is the result of many years of work by engineers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Integral Circuits (IIS), located in Erlangen.
ASA technology: a digital sentry on standby
In the laboratories of the Fraunhofer Institute, under the leadership of Olaf Korte, a unique test stand was created. On it, several modern digital receivers are lined up in a row. The process of simulating an alarm looks routine but impressive: the scientist launches a signal on a regular laptop, and within a few seconds, the room fills with sound. The radio receivers, which a moment ago were in “sleep” mode, suddenly activate, emit a loud warning signal, after which a clear synthesized voice sounds: “This is a test alarm for the Erlangen city limits.”
The system, named Automatic Safety Alert (ASA), operates on the principle of priority switching. As Korte explains, upon receiving a special code, the receiver automatically retunes to an emergency broadcast channel. Even if the volume was turned off or the device was in standby mode, it is obliged to convey the details of the alarm to the listener.
Why radio is more reliable than mobile internet
Despite the widespread use of smartphones, Olaf Korte and his colleagues are convinced that writing off radio is premature. The Cell-Broadcast system, which sends notifications to phones, is certainly a fantastic achievement of progress. However, it has a critical vulnerability: it depends entirely on the integrity of the terrestrial cellular infrastructure. In the event of a large-scale disaster, when base stations are left without electricity or are destroyed by the elements, mobile communication is the first to fail.
Broadcasting radio, by contrast, is considered one of the most resilient mass media in the world. The signal from powerful transmitters covers huge territories, bypassing obstacles that become fatal for cellular networks. Although battery-powered household radios are not found in every home today, Korte reminds us of millions of cars. Every car is an information receiving station independent of the stationary power grid, capable of becoming a life-saving buoy in blackout conditions.
Delayed success: lessons from the Ahr valley
The path of technology to recognition was not easy. The Fraunhofer Institute has been perfecting the technical side of alerting via DAB+ for the last 15 years. For a long time, electronics manufacturers saw no point in complicating their devices and implementing this function. Only the catastrophic flood in the Ahr valley, which claimed many lives due to untimely warnings, gave the development of Automatic Safety Alert the necessary impetus. The tragedy forced politicians and industrialists to reconsider the requirements for the security of citizens.
Today, Germany‘s experience is generating huge interest among neighbors in the European Union. Austria, the Czech Republic, and Spain have already expressed their intention to bet on radio alerting, using the German model as a basis. Since the technology was born here, close attention from world experts is directed at Germany, and a successful test launch on Thursday should confirm the country’s status as a pioneer in this field.
Important condition: check for the ASA logo
For all the merits of the new system, it has one significant nuance: it only works on devices of the latest generation. Old digital radio receivers manufactured before mid-2023 do not possess the necessary module for automatic wake-up. A suitable device can be found by a special ASA logo on the packaging or housing.
Although such models have not yet become mass-market, Olaf Korte looks to the future with optimism. In Germany, more than a million DAB+ standard receivers are sold annually. Given the growing demand for security, experts suggest that the automatic warning function will become a powerful incentive for updating home appliances. According to the institute’s forecasts, in just a few years, 20 to 30 percent of the country’s population will be able to receive alarm signals via radio channel, which will create a reliable backup layer of the national civil defense system.Source: BR24
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