Alerting device and system for abnormal situations

A signalling system on-board an emergency vehicle for providing an advanced warning of the vehicle's approach, the system comprising:

• a transmitter for broadcasting a first emergency warning signal within a tunable bandwidth of a standard radio receiver for receiving commercial broadcasts;
• a transceiver for broadcasting or receiving a second emergency warning signal intended to provide an emergency vehicle-to-emergency vehicle link outside the tunable bandwidth of the standard radio receiver;
• source of the first and second emergency warning signals;
• and a processor responsive to an input at a user interface for keying the transceiver and the transmitter to broadcast the first and second emergency warning signals.

A system for broadcasting an emergency warning throughout an area about a site, the system comprising:

• a source at the site of an audible or visual warning signal detectable by at least one of the human senses;
• a transmitter at the site for broadcasting an electromagnetic warning signal within a tunable bandwidth of a standard radio receiver for receiving commercial broadcasts, with at least part of the electromagnetic warning signal encoded in an RDS compatible format;
• a power amplifier within the transmitter whose power rating provides an effective range of the electromagnetic warning signal that complements an effective range of the audible or visual signal and is approximately coextensive therewith;
• and an interface linking the transmitter and the source of the audible or visual warning signal to provide a timed relationship between the broadcasting of the audible or visual warning signal and the broadcasting of the electromagnetic warning signal.

A system for broadcasting an emergency warning throughout an area about a site, the system comprising:

• a source at the site of an audible or visual warning signal detectable by at least one of the human senses;
• a transmitter at the site for broadcasting an electromagnetic warning signal within a tunable bandwidth of a standard radio receiver for receiving commercial broadcasts, with at least part of the electromagnetic warning signal encoded in an RDS compatible format;
• a power amplifier within the transmitter whose power rating provides an effective transmission area of the electromagnetic warning signal that complements an effective range of the audible or visual signal and is approximately coextensive therewith;
• and the transmitter including at least two antenna configurations responsive to a user control for selecting a particular shape of the transmission area.

A signalling system on-board an emergency vehicle for providing an advanced warning of the vehicle's approach, the system comprising:

• a transceiver for providing an emergency vehicle-to-emergency vehicle electromagnetic link;
• a transmitter for broadcasting an emergency warning signal to non-emergency vehicles within a tunable bandwidth of a standard radio receiver for receiving commercial broadcasts;
• a signal source for the transceiver and transmitter;
• and, a processor responsive to an input at a user interface for keying the transceiver and the transmitter to broadcast the emergency signals;
• and, a sensor on-board the vehicle for detecting a value of a parameter indicative of an operating status of the vehicle and providing a signal representing the value to the processor such that the emergency vehicle-to-emergency vehicle link includes information regarding the value of the parameter.