DOCUMENT #:
FOR:
SOURCE:
AGENDA ITEM:
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GSC13-PLEN-nn
Presentation
TIA
Opening Agenda Item 6.2 Emergency Communications
Dan Bart
Dan Bart, TIA DEL
Submission Date:
July 14, 2008

The topic “ Emergency Communications,” continues to be a hot topic in North America as well as around the world, both as a political or regulatory matter, as well as a standardization matter.
• The topic is best understood by looking at each type of
Emergency Communications under the GSC Resolution that adopted a taxonomy for such analysis. See GSC 12/02
– emergency communications can be partitioned into concerns covering communication (1) from individuals/organizations [1] to authorities and/or organizations providing emergency services, (2) between and among such authorities, (3) from such authorities to individuals/organizations and (4) among affected individuals and organizations
» [1] Use of the term “individuals/organizations” is intentionally broad and intended to include citizens, non-citizens and visitors, employer-to-employee emergency communications, as well as employer-to-employer, and also encompasses the unique concerns for persons with disabilities and those individuals who may not be fluent in the language(s) or dialects in use in the locus of the emergency or disaster.
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• In the area of Alerts and Warnings , the CMSAAC finished its work and issued a report to the FCC and the FCC used that report as the basis for several Orders and Notices concerning Alerts under the WARN Act and the creation of CMAS: Cellular Mobile Alert Service
– See http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/advisory/cmsaac/
– http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-281433A1.doc
• Federal Communications Commission’s (“Commission”) Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (“Bureau”) issued a six (6) month stay of the Commission’s initial wireless E911 location accuracy compliance benchmark until March 11, 2009 .
– Granted a stay of the September 11, 2008 compliance date detailed in
Section 20.18(h)(2)(i) of the Commission’s rules, adopted in September
2007 .
Under the Bureau’s Order, carriers will still have to meet the relevant testing and measurement standards for location accuracy on an Economic
Area (“EA”) basis by March 11, 2009
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• Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC” or “Commission”)
Notice of Inquiry (“NOI”) regarding 911 call-forwarding requirements and carriers’ blocking options for fraudulent 911 calls made from wireless nonservice initialized (“NSI”) phones
• The FCC is also looking at Emergency Communications in the
HealthCare area:
• The Joint Advisory Committee on Communications Capabilities of
Emergency Medical and Public Health Care Facilities ("Joint Advisory
Committee") was established by the Chairman of the Federal
Communications Commission and the Assistant Secretary for
Communications and Information, U.S. Department of Commerce pursuant to the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission
Act of 2007 (the "Act"). The Joint Advisory Committee's mission was to examine the communications capabilities and needs of emergency medical and public health care facilities .
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• Specifically, the Joint Advisory Committee was to assess:
– Specific communications capabilities and needs of emergency medical and public health care facilities, including the improvement of basic voice, data, and broadband capabilities;
– Options to accommodate growth of basic and emerging communications services used by emergency medical and public health care facilities; and
– Options to improve integration of communications systems used by emergency medical and public health care facilities with existing or future emergency communications networks.
• The JCA Report to Congress is PLEN Contribution 27a1
• The ANSI Homeland Security Standards Panel ( ANSI HSSP ) issued its
Workshop Report on the subject of Emergency Communications . See
• http://www.ansi.org/news_publications/news_story.aspx?menuid=7&articleid=1109
• http://publicaa.ansi.org/sites/apdl/Documents/Standards%20Activities/Homeland%20Security%20Standards%
20Panel/ANSI-HSSP%20Workshops/EC.htm
• Final Report http://publicaa.ansi.org/sites/apdl/Documents/Standards%20Activities/Homeland%20Security%20Standards%
20Panel/Workshop%20Reports/Emergency%20Communications.pdf
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• US DHS has a new Office of Emergency Communications
(OEC)
– The Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) supports the
Secretary of Homeland Security in developing, implementing, and coordinating interoperable and operable communications for the emergency response community at all levels of government.
• Mission and Objectives
» The mission of the Office of Emergency Communications is to support and promote the ability of emergency responders and government officials to continue to communicate in the event of natural disasters, acts of terrorism, or other man-made disasters, and work to ensure, accelerate, and attain interoperable and operable emergency communications nationwide
– http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/gc_1189774174005.shtm
• The FCC had a well-publicized failure to auction D Block spectrum for a Nationwide Public Safety Network at 700
MHz and has sought input for another pass at such an auction.
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– Engineering Committee TR-8 , see TIA’s 2007 Standards and
Technology Annual Report (STAR) for updates on P25 and standards work of TR-8
– http://www.tiaonline.org/standards/about/star.cfm
– MESA , a joint project of TIA and ETSI for broadband public safety communications work www.projectmesa.org
– TIA’s TR-45 and 3GPP2’s cdma2000 ® technology has also been used to improve public safety interoperability
• http://www.cdg.org/news/press/2007/oct08_07.asp
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– TIA TR-45.2 is working jointly with ATIS WTSC G3GSN on access independent CMAS standards:
• Alert Gateway / CMSP Gateway Interface Specification (i.e., C-
Interface)
• Mobile Device Behavior Specification (MDBS)
– Status
• C-interface ~80% complete and MDBS ~30% complete
• Stable documents to be ready for review August 2008 and completed/published October 2008
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• TIA will continue its current standards work to support Emergency
Communications at all levels described in the GSC Resolution.
• ANSI HSSP is contemplating another follow-on Emergency
Communications (EC) Workshop and TIA and TIA members are assisting in that effort.
• TIA TR-48 has launched a project and assigned the Project Number (PN-
3-0333) and Publication ID (TIA-1153) for Emergency Information
Delivery Protocol .
– 1) Conduct research of related telematics emergency information delivery efforts (including, but not limited to, COMCARE, HITSP ER-EHR and
Common Alerting Protocol, IEEE VTS/ITS Incident Management Messages
Sets, and SAE Location Reference Management System, and OASIS
Common Alerting Protocol 1.1 and EDXL Distribution Element) to determine feasibility; and
(2) Describe the architecture, protocol, core services middleware, interfaces, registration, and policies for a common middleware protocol for emergency information exchange.
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• Cooperative work with other SDOs, leveraging existing/on-going
EC standards/specifications when possible, while adding/addressing TIA technology specifics.
• Taking the lead on developing/studying EC solutions in new areas where necessary and not being addressed by other SDOs.
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– Rumors that Chairman Martin thinks it unlikely that the 700 MHz Dblock auction will occur by years’ end
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