FCC Homeland Security bureau seeks improved indoor location accuracy for wireless 911 calls

The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau has released its agenda for an upcoming test bed workshop to improve indoor location accuracy for wireless 911 calls.

The event's public notice states that "consumers are increasingly abandoning landline telephony in favor of wireless communications, and a majority of wireless calls are now made indoors. However, during an emergency, wireless carriers are often unable to provide a 911 call center with accurate location information from the caller when the call is made indoors."

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The public notice continues, "Recognizing this critical public safety concern, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) tasked the Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) with evaluating the performance and viability of various location technologies in their ability to support indoor environments for E911 services.

"To meet this objective, various members of the CSRIC will conduct testing to evaluate location technologies for improving indoor E911 services. The workshop will focus on the upcoming CSRIC test bed and issues related to improving indoor location accuracy."

The workshop will be held on Wednesday, October 24, 2012, from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Read the full public notice for the event here.

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