Reader Forum: Can Mobile E911 Really Save Your Life?

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reader Forum section. In an attempt to broaden our interaction with our readers we have created this forum for those with something meaningful to say to the wireless industry. We want to keep this as open as possible, but maintain some editorial control so as to keep it free of commercials or attacks. Please send along submissions for this section to our editors at: dmeyer@ardenmediaco.com.
Can mobile E911 really save your life?
Steve Artim, CEO, WirelessWERX
An editor at a recent trade show told me she feels safer at night when she keeps her mobile phone on her nightstand.
She’s not as safe as she thinks.
It’s a reasonable assumption. Keeping a mobile phone with you at all times means you can call for help whenever you need it. Especially now that so many phones have embedded GPS technology, it’s a breeze for first responders to track you down if you’re unable to tell them. Right?
Wrong.
Standard mobile phone pinpointing can only track a device to within 150 meters of its actual locationthe equivalent of one football field or a city block. Sometimes, though, location details are off by up to 1,000 meters. What’s more, 911 dispatchers have to request coordinates from the wireless carrier that operates whichever tower facilitates the call, which can take precious minutes of time in a critical emergency situation. And finally, once that city block is located, there’s no telling which building the caller is in, let alone the floor and unit number.
These types of details — indoor location information — can mean life or death.
The fact is, today’s 911 system is more than 40 years old. Built for landlines, the architecture can match wireline calls with an exact address. According to the FCC and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), 50% of today’s nationwide 911 calls originate on mobile phones. In fact, many 911 call centers say that percentage can be as high as 70. Denver 911, for example, estimates that 65% of its 560,000 annual calls come from mobile phones.
Furthermore, 25%of mobile 911 calls are made indoors. As of December 2008, there were an average of 291,000 E911 calls per day. According to CTIA, there were 270 million mobile phones in use in December 2008up from 110 million in 2000. The organization thereby determined that 87% of Americans have a mobile phone they take everywhere. At the same point in time, the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics reported more than 20% of American households were wireless-only; only 17% of households were landline-only.
That said, the current mobile E911 system does not give floor or room numbers, leaving callers vulnerable if they’re in multi-floor, multi-dwelling structures. One-third of Americans rely on cellphones as a primary communications tooleven when they have landlines. And colleges and universities are systematically limiting landline service due to lack of use. The bottom line: Operators, device manufacturers and Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs or 911 call centers) need to cooperate on making mobile emergency callers as easy to find as their legacy landline counterparts.
The solution is far simpler than one might think, and the central technology is available and already in use on the vast majority of mobile devices: Bluetooth. At present, more than 80% of U.S. mobile phones are Bluetooth-enabled. By setting up Bluetooth-enabled node networks within buildings that can communicate with Bluetooth-enabled phones, PSAPs can locate in-building emergency callers down to their floor and room number.
There are a variety of benefits in a Bluetooth-assisted 911 system that all add up to saving more lives every day. First off, Bluetooth connectivity is independent of carrier coverage area and signal strength. Second, even if the emergency call ends, a Bluetooth-enabled phone can still communicate with an in-building Bluetooth node. The nodes themselves communicate with upgraded PSAP and in-vehicle first-responder system technology for exact, up-to-the-second in-building location awareness. Problem solved.
Of course this scenario would require a great deal of cooperation. Carriers would need to begin offering applications to help PSAPs locate callers. Handset manufacturers would need to fully open their software development kits (SDKs) and Bluetooth capabilities. PSAPs would have to invest in new technologies to support Bluetooth pinpointing. And individual users would have to understand their risk and demand the E911 application as an upgraded safety feature from their service providers and device suppliers.
A tall order? Not so fast. Denver’s University Lofts complex has already deployed and begun using a Bluetooth-assisted emergency response system to increase in-building safety. Catering to students at the University of Denver, the five-story residence opted for this state-of-the art system because most its 97 residents only use a mobile phone. The technology can transmit to first responders a caller’s exact location within the building.
The editor’s story rings true for many of us who put faith in our mobile phones not just to keep us connected, but to connect us in the critical moments when we are in distress. For all the advanced technology at our fingertips, it only makes sense that networks built to keep us alive also have the most advanced life-saving technology on the market. If I live in a dense, vertical urban center and dial 911 from the mobile phone on my nightstand, I want to be assured the paramedics will show up at my doornot yours.
Established in 1998, WirelessWERX is headquartered in Anaheim, Calif. WirelessWERX is a leader in delivering indoor location services (ILS) via Bluetooth-enabled mobile devices. The company has a long history of developing and deploying end-to-end solutions for the deployment of mobile resource management and tracking solutions as well as location-based services systems. WirelessWERX is a privately held venture funded company. Steve Artim, CEO, has served as CEO of WirelessWERX since January 2008. He is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of software and hardware technology experience spanning multiple Fortune 500 companies and a number of start-ups. Before joining WirelessWERX, Steve co-founded InnoPath Software.