CTIA asked the FCC to reject arguments that the agency should effectively exclude all emergency calls that are satellite-based from being counted as indoor calls as the agency develops metrics for measuring the ability of carriers to identify the location of indoor wireless calls to 911. Industry officials view that as one of the key policy decisions that the FCC will make when it approves rules, to be voted on at Thursday’s commission meeting (see 1501130062).
The U.S. might be better off if there were only three public safety answering points nationwide, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said Monday at the initial meeting of the FCC Task Force on Optimal PSAP Architecture (TFOPA) at the agency' headquarters. TFOPA kicked off with agency officials sketching out the goals for the new group.
The U.S. might be better off if there were only three public safety answering points nationwide, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said Monday at the initial meeting of the FCC Task Force on Optimal PSAP Architecture (TFOPA) at the agency' headquarters. TFOPA kicked off with agency officials sketching out the goals for the new group.
The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council is examining whether interference from LED and fluorescent lighting system ballasts are disrupting public safety radio systems, said a NPSTC news release. NPSTC asks public agencies to fill out an online questionnaire. In 2013, the FCC ordered one manufacturer to make changes to its LED lighting transformers after interference concerns emerged, NPSTC said. “More recently, some public safety agencies have reported interference from LED lights installed on agency radio towers, from fluorescent lighting installed at an incident command post, and from commercial buildings with large lighting systems.”
The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council is examining whether interference from LED and fluorescent lighting system ballasts are disrupting public safety radio systems, said a NPSTC news release. NPSTC asks public agencies to fill out an online questionnaire. In 2013, the FCC ordered one manufacturer to make changes to its LED lighting transformers after interference concerns emerged, NPSTC said. “More recently, some public safety agencies have reported interference from LED lights installed on agency radio towers, from fluorescent lighting installed at an incident command post, and from commercial buildings with large lighting systems.”
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is demanding improved emergency communications interoperability coordination between the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) in response to issues first responders encountered during a Jan. 12 rescue on WMATA’s Metrorail system. “It is apparent that the process" WMATA and its partners currently employ to address communication problems "needs greater oversight and urgency,” Warner said in a letter Thursday to COG board Chairman William Euille and WMATA board Chairman Mort Downey. WMATA interim General Manager Jack Requa said Thursday that WMATA was unaware that the Washington city government had altered D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services (FEMS) radios until after the Jan. 12 incident at the L’Enfant Plaza Metrorail station (see 1501220067).
As Commissioner Ajit Pai said the largest U.S. hotel chains have made progress on ensuring guests can call 911 without first dialing 9, he also criticized the lack of FCC action in dealing with the problem at its own offices. Speaking at a news conference Friday at the Marshall, Texas, police headquarters, Pai said Commissioner Mike O’Rielly discovered “something disturbing” last year. When callers using the agency’s phone system try to call 911 directly, they receive a message saying, “'Your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please consult your directory and call again or ask your operator for assistance. This is a recording.'” The message should have an additional line, Pai said: “This is completely unacceptable.”
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority was unaware until after a Jan. 12 rescue outside its L’Enfant Plaza Metrorail station that the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services (FEMS) department’s radios were encrypted, said WMATA interim General Manager Jack Requa Thursday during a WMATA board meeting. WMATA has faced scrutiny since the Jan. 12 incident because firefighters found their radios didn’t work at the L’Enfant Plaza station or in adjacent tunnels, potentially hampering efforts to rescue passengers stuck on a train filled with smoke (see 1501200067). WMATA and FEMS determined Jan. 14 that the FEMS encryption codes blocked communication in the station, because WMATA hadn’t calibrated its equipment with the same codes, Requa said. The two agencies have now calibrated those codes, he said. FEMS has been very open about its move to encrypt its radios, a FEMS spokesman said. The National Transportation Safety Board said it’s examining the radio connectivity issue as part of its overall investigation of the Jan. 12 incident, which left one passenger dead.
APCO and the National Emergency Number Association filed separate letters at the FCC urging the agency to approve the road map the groups worked out with CTIA and the major wireless carriers on indoor wireless location accuracy rules. The FCC is poised to vote on rules Jan. 29. The road map's release followed seven months of work, APCO said. “The Roadmap is designed to produce a dispatchable location -- defined as the ‘civic address of the calling party plus additional information such as floor, suite, apartment or similar information that may be needed to adequately identify the location of the calling party,’” APCO said. “Dispatchable location is public safety’s gold standard for indoor location accuracy.” NENA's comments agreed: “The Roadmap is the product of many months of intensive negotiations and technical analysis, and represents the most robust agreement our organization could achieve in partnership with the carriers.” TruePosition, which wants the FCC to reject the road map, criticized the revised plan filed at the FCC this week by AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon (see Ref:1501210004]). “APCO and NENA did not sign this latest ‘Modified Roadmap,’ but even if these organizations do support it, this alternative to the FCC’s proposed rules has not been thoroughly vetted and endorsed by the most critical participants in this rulemaking proceeding: the First Responders and Public Safety officers who desperately need accurate indoor location information for emergency 911 calls placed by wireless phones,” TruePosition said. The FCC posted the letters Thursday in docket 07-114.
The FCC received thousands of emails seeking tough indoor location accuracy rules for wireless, the Public Safety Bureau said in a notice posted in docket 07-114. The notice said the agency received 9,297 emails from last July to October urging a “reasonable and achievable two-year path to indoor location accuracy for wireless 9-1-1 calls.” The communications came after the FCC proposed rules in February (see 1402210038). More emails came in after APCO, AT&T, CTIA, the National Emergency Number Association, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon proposed a road map for location accuracy in November (see 1411190064), the bureau said. So far in January, the commission has received more than 1,000 emails with essentially the same message, the bureau said. “I am writing to urge you to oppose the phone companies' attempt to delay real and enforceable requirements for accurate 9-1-1 locations,” reads a typical email, according to the bureau. “The technology exists today to find all wireless 911 callers, so we should require phone companies to find the location of indoor and outdoor callers within the next two years, as your original rule proposed.” Two emails, meanwhile, urged the FCC to “accept the deal,” the bureau said. The agency is to vote on rules at its Jan. 29 meeting. Meanwhile, the four national carriers supporting the road map filed a letter at the FCC offering additional concessions. Their modified version of the road map adopts “new, quantifiable indoor-specific metrics to assure widespread wireless 9-1-1 indoor positioning fixes, including vertical location fixes,” expands the performance metrics to apply to all 911 calls, and commits to creation of a National Emergency Address Database Privacy and Security Plan to be developed and sent to the FCC, they said. “The amended Roadmap commits carriers to widespread implementation of solutions that either provide a dispatchable location or a z-axis component, or both, to assure the availability of accurate horizontal and vertical location information for indoor calls,” the carriers said. “With these commitments, there can be no doubt the Roadmap provides clear targets and accountability for indoor location through aggressive performance metrics verified by live call data and an open and transparent test bed.”