American Signal Corporation (ASC) has installed mass notification systems at border checkpoints, airports, and ports. High-powered speaker arrays are often teamed with multi-colored strobe lights to clearly designate the Homeland Security terror threat warning level. In the event of a security breach, operators can activate the system from any number of control points; the front line of defense has radio access to the control center and can be given access to sections the public address system.

Milwaukee Festival Park is home to the world’s largest annual music festival. Summerfest is an eleven-day food, musical, and fireworks extravaganza presenting more than 2500 acts across eleven stages. The annual festival is attended by more than one million people. The crowds are legendary and have been considered by DHS as possible terrorist target. When Festival Park, also home to a summer concert series and a traditional series of ethnic festivals, invested in a new state-of-the-art emergency mass notification system, ASC was selected above all others to design, install, and maintain a new voice notification system of multiple high-powered speaker arrays throughout the 22 acre lakefront park.

For ASC, designing and installing an effective system for any area that may be involved in Homeland Security is centered round the communication and activation system. Multiple, including mobile, activation controls create flexibility and redundancy. Since the threat is unknown in advance, the control system is designed with great flexibility. For a Homeland security situation, the entire mass notification system must demonstrate a high degree of redundancy. Should one or more communication paths be disabled, it is imperative to have alternate secure communication pathways to activate and broadcast over the MNS speakers. Drawing upon our decades working with FEMA and the nuclear power industry, ASC system consultants are experts at designing redundancy and security into mass notification systems.

No matter the mission of an installation tasked with Homeland Security, American Signal Corporation will bring more than six decades of experience to bear on developing the best the warning and notification solution. Taking into account the budgetary, geographic, and weather-related constraints, and considering a facility’s purpose and missions, American Signal Corporation will design, propose, install, and commission the most flexible, redundant, and effective solution available.