FCC Gets Conflicting Advice on Z-Axis Requirement for Calls to 911
The FCC likely won’t move forward quickly to impose rules requiring carriers meet a new vertical location (z-axis) accuracy metric for indoor wireless calls to 911, industry officials said Tuesday. Monday, APCO said the FCC should drop plans to impose the metric and focus instead on dispatchable location solutions (see 1905200025). But there was no common thread to public safety comments. Other first responders said requiring a 3-meter metric will help. Comments were posted through Tuesday in docket 07-114.
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When the agency approved the Further NPRM on the z-axis in March, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel dissented (see 1903150067), citing concern on whether the standard would help public safety. Chairman Ajit Pai is unlikely to do “anything quickly,” said a former spectrum official: Pai is “keenly aware that Jessica is in the cat bird’s seat, not to mention that the proceeding is relatively young.” The FCC didn’t comment.
“CCA supports public safety efforts and encourages the commission to proceed cautiously to ensure that available technology properly influences future policy decisions,” emailed Steve Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association. The group “looks forward to working with stakeholders and the commission so that any enhanced metrics are carefully adopted alongside sufficient technological solutions,” he said.
Rural Wireless Association Counsel Carri Bennet told us her group doesn’t have a “dog in this fight.” That's since only non-nationwide carriers in the top 50 markets would have to meet the standard. CTIA didn’t comment on the outlook at the FCC.
The International Association of Fire Fighters said it conducted tests, which showed a 3-meter z-axis metric saves lives. “The time differences recorded between an emergency dispatch to a precise vertical location versus an indefinite search area is dramatic and too often may mean the difference between life and death,” the group said. “The field tests provided a clear and measurable validation of the Commission's conclusion that the availability of vertical location information of within 3 meters significantly improves emergency response.”
The FCC should impose a 3-meter metric now and narrow it as technology improves, said the International Association of Fire Chiefs, National Association of State EMS Officials and National Sheriffs’ Association. “While the organizations are supportive of the FCC’s rule requiring dispatchable location, we believe that an accurate and well-defined z-axis is a necessary alternative in order to ensure that first responders can find individuals that require aid.”
The National Emergency Number Association said the best alternative is a requirement that carriers provide 911 call centers with a “geodetic Location Object (LO).” NENA defines the LO as “a data format that communicates latitude(s), longitude(s), elevation, uncertainty, confidence and the datum which identifies the coordinate system used, communicated in a standardized, encapsulated data format.” NENA raised concerns about the use of dispatchable location: “Dispatchable location, as defined, is not the most accurate, useful, or efficient means to locate an individual and the Commission should not include dispatchable location, as defined, in its rules.”
CTIA said an industry test bed will conduct a new round of vertical accuracy tests this year. “The Commission’s proceeding is now driving the development of wholly new vertical location solutions,” the group said. “The Commission also rightly noted that a z-axis metric more targeted than ± 3 meters is not technically feasible at this time, and it was correct to refrain from requiring that wireless providers identify the floor level derived from z-axis information when delivering vertical location information to public safety answering points.”
Verizon encouraged the FCC to move forward, saying the technology will improve and the right handsets are key. “Establishing a feasible Z-axis metric in this proceeding can provide solution providers, as well as chipset and handset manufacturers, the accuracy metrics and certainty needed to develop their products, and better enable them to determine when and how their solutions will scale across the markets covered by the Commission’s rules,” Verizon commented.
“The biggest determinant to meeting the vertical accuracy metric is incorporating the technology into the handsets to allow the z-axis measurements to be delivered to the public safety answering points,” AT&T commented: This will require that handset operating system providers and handset makers “work diligently to incorporate the new technology into the handsets.”
CCA raised a note of caution. The commission should "be mindful when considering this latest FNPRM that the technologies needed to meet these metrics are still developing, and to allow this development to lead the FCC’s policy decisions on industry standards,” the group asked. “Recognize that competitive carriers often face unique obstacles in accessing, upgrading, and deploying next-generation equipment and network features.”
Qualcomm also urged caution. “Prematurely imposing compliance deadlines for technologies that need further development and testing may be counterproductive to the ultimate goal of continually improving indoor location accuracy of wireless E911 callers,” the company said. Before adopting z-axis criteria, “allow all potentially viable indoor positioning technologies to be assessed for their performance -- including their ability to be ubiquitously deployed successfully, timely, and cost-effectively by wireless carriers and public safety agencies,” Qualcomm said.