Wireless-carrier trade associations express concern with FCC’s indoor-location proposal
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Wireless-carrier trade associations express concern with FCC’s indoor-location proposal
Some FCC commissioners proposed that carriers should not be required to implement the indoor-location technology until it is determined that a technology exists that will meet the requirements established by the commission. Josef indicated that this approach would be more palatable to wireless carriers.
“We agree with the FCC’s goals and the notion of improving indoor location accuracy is certainly something that the wireless industry agrees with and has been working on,” CTIA’s Josef said. “What does concern us is that the FCC is setting enforceable rules based on technology that doesn’t exist. We believe these are aspirational goals.
“We would much prefer to work with public safety—as we have in the past very successfully—to come up with achievable goals for enhancing and improving indoor location accuracy. But basing rules on technology that hasn’t been proven to meet those proposed rules is troubling.”
In fact, establishing an unrealistic rule could be more damaging than not having an indoor-location requirement created at all, according to Josef.
“It doesn’t do any benefit to public safety or to consumers to have a certain expectation set out there by the FCC that can’t be met, due to the limitations of the technology,” he said.
When the FCC made this
When the FCC made this visionary announcement, it hinted at a possible one sided vision, without very much consultation with all of those that would be effected. While the goal of this does appear to be a good one, the problem again comes down to the ability for the technology to actually work, and what will the end user (PSAP) do with this information? When introducing a Z factor, this requires a brand new geospatial system to be used instead of the current X-Y map that is in place now (in almost areas). Introducing the Z of height would then require a usable mapping system to place it on a proper level of a building, room, etc. I doubt that most systems available to end users of E911 are unable to resolve the Z information into anything useful. By advising responding resources that a caller is in a building and is 200 feet above th ground, will leave everyone still scratching their heads. Obviously a Z would only be useful if the mapping systems used by the responding units and the PSAP locations could clearly resolve that into terms they can understand. This is nothing more than a good goal, but in terms of capabilities and consumption of this information, for now it may be wasted effort.
I would recommend that the FCC not attempt to force this, but to at least let Public Safety and the carriers know that they are receptive to making accomodations or changes to any existing rules or regulations that may impede or impair development like this, and not to be the visionary force driving this. Customers always know what they want.