How Enhanced 911 is speeding up emergency assistance
When a caller in North America dials 911 for an emergency call, in over 98 of locations, they are linked to an emergency dispatch center known as a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). There are approximately 6100 total primary and secondary PSAPs in the United States, meaning that there’s almost always one within reach of the caller. But how do the PSAPs know where to send assistance? In the past, it was necessary for a caller to give their location, which could take up valuable time. Today, more and more areas are using Enhanced 911, which determines the physical address of the caller and routes the call to the appropriate PSAP, displaying the address and information to the attendant at that location.The benefits of this system are obviousit can save time in all situations, but it can be indispensable at times when the caller does not know or is otherwise unable to communicate their address. Traditionally, this system has been associated with landline calls. The PSAP determines the number that the party is calling from and looks up the address in an Automatic Location Identifier (ALI) database. This information is thus separate from the public phone networkit is usually manage by the Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC).What if a person is calling from a wireless phone? The address associated with the number may be miles from where the call is being made. At first, these calls were unable to be located, but the Federal Communications Commission made several requirements for the rollout of wireless enhanced 911. The first major requirement was that network operators must be able to identify the number and cell tower within six minutes of a request. By December 31, 2005, 95 of an operator’s phones had to be E911 compliant. The next deadline is September 11, 2012, by which time operators must be able to provide the latitude and longitude of callers to within 300 meters. This is accomplished with GPS receivers within the phone.Calls from Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications are the next obstacle for Enhanced 911 to tackle. Since these calls originate on the Internet, geolocation can be difficult. One of the solutions currently proposed will eventually integrate VoIP providers with PSAPs via an IP interconnection.