FCC wants better mobile position data for emergency E911 calls - Congress says no GLONASS

FCC Tackles Indoor Wireless 911 Accuracy

US Senator says GPS often fails to track emergency calls
First responders are often not able to pinpoint the location of victims when emergency calls are made from wireless devices due to defects in the US GPS satellite system, US Senator Chuck Schumer, said in a press release.
"First responders too-often can't locate victims when 911 calls are made from cell phones," Schumer said on Wednesday. "It is inconceivable that GPS flaws could mean the difference between life and death."

▶ Webinar: Wireless 9-1-1 Location - YouTube

Published on Dec 8, 2014

On Monday, December 8, the Find Me 911 coalition hosted a webinar ("Wireless 9-1-1 Location: The Truth About the FCC’s 9-1-1 Safety Regulations and Consequences of the Phone Company Alternative Plan") with Jamie Barnett, Director Find Me 911 Coalition and former Chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau for the Federal Communications Commission. Topics covered included:

• •A brief overview of the current problem with wireless 9-1-1 location
• •The major differences between the various proposals
• •The importance of retaining the proposed rules

FCC weighs plan to use Russian satellite network for 911 system, raising security concerns | Fox News

Retired Rear Adm. David Simpson, head of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, said in a statement the agency is "committed to protecting both public safety and national security as we continue to examine the input and issues in the proceeding, and will coordinate with our colleagues across the government to ensure that national security needs are addressed."
He underscored the urgency of a 911 overhaul in a blog post last month.
"The vast majority of 911 calls are from mobile phones, and we are not where we need to be on location accuracy for wireless 911 calls," he wrote. "This puts American lives at risk and requires swift action from the FCC, from wireless carriers, and from public safety officials."
The four largest wireless carriers, joined by two public safety organizations including NENA, proposed the plan, which among other components suggests using Russia's GLONASS satellite system to help locate 911 callers.
Fontes said the industry is interested in pursuing all manner of solutions for boosting location accuracy, including improved GPS, sensors and beacon technology -- but using other countries' capabilities should be on the table.

Russian Satellites Prohibited for Emergency 911 Calls in US
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) doesn't allow the use of non-US satellites, Chief of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau David Simpson said, referring to the FCC order, requiring wireless providers to be able to transmit emergency indoor cellphone calls to 911 call centers.
"Nothing in this order authorizes the use of any non-US satellite signal in conjunction with the 911 system," Simpson said at an open meeting on improving location accuracy for 911 calls on Thursday.
FCC reviewed proposal to add Russia's GLONASS satellite system to the US satellite GPS system to double the coverage of satellites, thereby increasing the probability and accuracy of finding someone making a 911 call.
Under the proposal shot down by the FCC on Thursday, Russia's GLONASS satellite system would have been added to the US satellite GPS system to double the coverage of satellites, thereby increasing the probability and accuracy of finding someone making a 911 call from a cellphone. Currently only Russia and the United States have non-stationary satellite system with global reach.

FCC’s New E911 Location Requirements Could Boost
Positioning Services in General | Inside GNSS

In 2013, at the FCC’s request, the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council III Working Group 3 (WG3) tested Polaris’ indoor location technology along with those of NextNav and Qualcomm. Qualcomm uses assisted-GPS and advanced forward link trilateration, a method that determines location using time and distance measurements from cell towers. NextNav uses the time of arrival of synchronized signals from precisely mapped beacons to determine location and differential barometric pressure measurements to determine height.
A NextNav beacon network, whose signals are synchronized at a coarse level using GPS, is fully deployed in San Francisco and initial deployments are under way in 39 other metro areas, according to the company. The firm runs the beacon network and licenses its technology, said co-Founder and President Gamesh Pattabiraman. In October NextNav announced a licensing deal with Broadcom.

Hearings - LOCATING 911 CALLERS IN A WIRELESS WORLD

Technical and Environmental Factors Affecting Indoor E911 Location Accuracy
The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or “Commission”) proposes in a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ Third FNPRM ”) to adopt rules governing the provision of indoor location information in connection with wireless 911 calls. The Third NPRM proposes separate accuracy requirements for horizontal (“x-axis” and “y-axis”) and vertical ( “z-axis” ) location information.

• With respect to horizontal location information, the FCC proposes that CMRS carriers provide location information within 50 meters of the caller for 67 percent of indoor 911 calls within two years, and for 80 percent of indoor calls within five years.
• With respect to vertical location information, the Commission propose s that CMRS carriers provide location information within 3 meters of the caller for 67 percent of indoor 911 calls within two years, and for 80 percent of indoor calls within five years.

Vendors have offered multiple technology approaches as potential solutions for indoor positioning. These approaches fall into the following categories:

1. (1) Global Positioning System (“GPS”) and/or Global Navigation Satellite System (“GNSS”) systems,
2. (2) Wireless Local Area Network (“WLAN”), Wi -Fi, and/or Small Cells,
3. (3) barometric pressure sensors, and
4. (4) RF - based technologies.

Each of these technologies carries with it challenges that make it inadequate to comply with the Commission’s proposed requirements at this time. In fact, no credible evidence has been provided to the Commission that any technology will be able to meet the location requirements in the timetable proposed by the FCC.

More Background

GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou for Mobile Devices: From Instant to Precise Positioning [Kindle Edition]

Ivan G. Petrovski (Author)

Book Description

Get up to speed on all types of GNSS for mobile applications. With step-by-step algorithms and practical methods you will understand the capabilities of current systems and be able to apply your new knowledge to unlocking the potential of future mobile positioning.

About the Author

Ivan G. Petrovski leads the development of GNSS applications at iP-Solutions, Japan. He has over 25 years' worth of research and development experience in the GNSS field and has previously led GNSS-related R&D for DX Antenna, GNSS Technologies Inc., and the Institute of Advanced Satellite Positioning at TUMSAT. He has academic experience working as an associate professor with MAI and a guest professor with TUMSAT. As an engineer he has developed RTK software, pseudolite systems, instant positioning methods and algorithms, a real-time GNSS software receiver, GNSS signal recorder and RF signal simulator.