U.S. DOT Next Generation 9-1-1 Project: A National Framework and Deployment Plan5th Standards Development Organizations (SDO)Emergency Services Workshop

October 10, 2008 – Vienna, AT

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Timeline of Today’s US 9-1-1 System

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Today’s 9-1-1 versus NG9-1-1

Today’s 9-1-1 Next Generation 9-1-1

Virtually all calls are voice callers via telephones over analog lines.

Voice, text, or video information, from many types of communication devices, sent over IP networks

Most information transferred via voice Advanced data sharing is automatically performed

Callers routed through legacy selective routers, limited forwarding / backup ability

Physical location of PSAP becomes immaterial, callers routed automatically based on geographic location, enhanced backup abilities

Limited ability to handle overflow situations, callers could receive a busy signal

PSAPs able to control call congestion treatment, including dynamically rerouting callers

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USDOT NG9-1-1 Project

Background:This project is a two-year research and development project, funded by the USDOT Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Joint Program Office (JPO), that will define a NG9-1-1 system architecture and develop a transition plan that considers responsibilities, costs, schedule and benefits for deploying Internet Protocol (IP)-based emergency communications across the nation.

Long Term Goal:To enable the general public to make a 9-1-1 “call” (any real-time communication – voice, text, or video) from any wired, wireless, or IP-based device, and allow the emergency services community to take advantage of advanced call delivery and other functions through new internetworking technologies based on open standards.

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NG9-1-1 Project: Team Members

• Booz Allen Hamilton• Leading technology and management consulting company• Experience in supporting far-reaching public safety communications efforts

• National Emergency Number Association• The “National Voice” of the 9-1-1 community• Team of experts with direct NG9-1-1 experience and knowledge

• L. Robert Kimball & Associates• Leader in design and implementation of E9-1-1 / IP-based E9-1-1 systems • Relevant technical expertise and domain knowledge of public safety

operations

• Texas A&M University Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center

• Developer of a prototype of the NG9-1-1 system

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The Need For NG9-1-1

• Today’s 9-1-1 system is being outpaced by emerging technologies– Constant adaptation of 9-1-1 is expensive and slow– New communications technologies need “plug and play” access and

interfaces– Growing data rich environment – 9-1-1 can’t handle– Need data bandwidth, modernized network (IP), open standards– Need a more flexible and easily controlled 9-1-1 system– Need nationwide and beyond intercommunication, including other

emergency services (transportation operations, emergency management, etc.)

– Post transition, NG9-1-1 can be significantly more efficient (and likely less expensive to implement new features)

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Consensus within the 9-1-1 Community

Leveraged stakeholders throughout the community to build consensus

Capitalize on advances in technologies that provide:

Quicker and more accurate information delivery to responders and the public alike

Better and more useful forms of information (real-time text, images, video, and other data)

More flexible, secure and robust Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) operations

Increased sharing of data, resources, procedures, and standards to improve emergency response

Promotion of increased coordination and partnerships within the emergency response / management community

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Tasks of the NG9-1-1 Project / Status

Task 1: System Architecture Development [Completed]

Revised ConOpsDefine functional requirementsHigh-level architectural design

Task 3: Proof of Concept (POC) [Completed]POC System DesignHuman Machine Interface (HMI) DesignPOC Deployment, Test and Demonstration

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Proof of Concept Participants

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Scope of the Proof of Concept

• Testing of Selected Requirements:– Ability to receive voice, video, text (IM, SMS) and data– Support for deaf/hearing-impaired accessibility– Caller’s location identification– Transmitting telematics data (Advanced Automatic

Crash Notification) like speed, vehicular rollover, crash velocity

– Call routing based on caller’s location– IP networking and security

At NO time during the POC were 'live' calls used.

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Vehicle Telematics in NG9-1-1

• After a vehicle equipped with an Advanced Automatic Crash Notification system is involved in an accident, the Telematics Service Provider is notified

• The essential data (including the GPS vehicle location) is used to route the call to the appropriate PSAP

• The PSAP receives the audio channel as well as the initial set of data

• A query for supplemental and supportive data is made to the Telematics Service Provider (i.e. additional subscriber-based information)

• All the data (NG9-1-1 and telematics) is forwarded for use by dispatch and the emergency responders which can influence the emergency responseExample Use Case

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Proof of Concept Results

• A total of 116 functional requirements were tested – A number of different use case scenarios employed

– Project team conducted 320 individual tests in total

– Three laboratories and five PSAP facilities used

– 280 (87.5%) successfully passed the test criteria

• Over 170 people participated in six demonstrations at the POC test sites. – Overall, very positive feedback was received from the POC participants

(both involved in the testing and the demonstrations

– The team heard that the POC helped to “de-mystify” NG9-1-1 by calming fears and answering pressing questions

– The POC has helped create a sense of urgency and movement within the community to get more involved and to start discussing the issues

POC Test ResultsAll Completed Tests

87.50%

12.50%

PASS

FAIL

The full POC Demonstration Report will be posted to the USDOT website shortly

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Tasks of the NG9-1-1 Project / Status

Task 2: Preliminary Transition Analysis [Completed]

Preliminary Analysis of Cost, Value and Risk Report on Critical Deployment Issues

Task 4: Final Transition Planning [Currently Underway]

Final Analysis of Cost, Value and RiskFinal Transition Plan

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Transition Planning

• Cost, Value & Risk

• Transition Issues– Funding– Operations– Standards & Technology– Governance & Policy– Education

• Deployment Approaches– Independent, Unilateral

(bottom up)– Coordinated,

Intergovernmental (top down)

• Strategies

• Options

• Models

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NG9-1-1 Initiative Documents Available

http://www.its.dot.gov/NG911

• Revised Concept of Operations• Functional Requirements• Architecture Design• Preliminary Analysis of Cost, Value and Risk• Transition Issues Report• Human Machine Interface Display• Proof of Concept Deployment Plan• NG9-1-1 Transition Issues Report• Data Acquisition and Analysis Plan• Preliminary Transition Plan

• Proof of Concept Testing Report

• Final Analysis of Cost, Value and Risk

• Final Transition Plan

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Requirements

Standards

Transition Plan

Acquisition Tools

National

Office

• DOT / DOC – Joint Program

• Housed @ USDOT / NHTSA

After November 2008…

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Laurie Flahertylaurie.flaherty@dot.gov

(202) 366-2705

Linda Dodgelinda.dodge@dot.gov

(202) 366-8034

Contact Information:

Visit USDOT’s NG9-1-1 website: http://www.its.dot.gov/ng911/

Task 3: Proof-of-Concept “Lessons Learned”

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Lessons were learned throughout a complete system development lifecycle from CONOPS, to system requirements, to POC implementation.

• Findings generally focused on four main issues:– Stakeholder Community

• The 9-1-1 stakeholder community is diverse and complex

– Operational• Rules that govern end-user and system-level operations must be

established

– Technology• Application of various technologic solutions can be problematic

– Future Research / POC Demonstration Report

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The NG9-1-1 Stakeholder Community is bothdiverse and complex.

• All stakeholders share a common bond stemming from the importance of their mission and their desire to help people in their time of need.

• However, hampering this mission is the community’s overall lack of effective ways to communicate and collaborate.

• The NG9-1-1 Initiative made significant headway by actively seeking the input of all of these groups to the project, sharing its efforts on the USDOT website, and in particular, actively enabled stakeholders to start communicating at a local level.

• Whether it be a repository, wiki, or combination there of, all this information should continue to be open and available to all stakeholders. The National 9-1-1 Implementation Coordination Office is charged with being an information clearinghouse.

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Several operational issues were raised / discovered by various stakeholders and theproject team.

• Process for handling abandoned, lost, and dropped calls• Call taker interaction with multiple, simultaneous SMS

messages• CONOPS for business rules, policy-based routing, and

NG9-1-1 system and software configuration– Policy-based business rule, used when handling or processing a

call (can affect routing)

– Configuration of software and/or components within the NG9-1-1 system that affects how a call taker interacts with a call

• Integration of Telematics Automatic Crash Notification (ACN) data and criticality metric determination

• Automatic Third-Party Conferencing (deaf / hearing-impaired)

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Several operational issues were raised / discovered by various stakeholders and theproject team. (continued)

• Effective demonstration of sensor data integration into PSAPs• Definition of a flexible, authoritative hierarchical governance

and operation model for call handling and routing in NG9-1-1• Standards and interoperability for integrating external systems

and services into NG9-1-1• Flexible HMI software architecture for taking in new data sets• Accreditation of NG9-1-1 systems to ensure interoperability• Operational model and technical feasibility study for authority to

citizen communication• Interface with / transfer of NG9-1-1 information to other

emergency services (Fire, Police, EMS) (dispatch / responders)

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In many cases, the technology is not the limitingfactor, but how the community understands andleverages the technology can be an obstacle.

• Importance of product selection and understanding the 9-1-1 vendor community

• Improved network and system management

• Extensions of network monitoring, traffic generators, and packet sniffers for future interoperability, accreditation, and performance benchmarking

• Best practices in security

• Building in redundancy, reliability, and overflow

• Study and standardization of CODECs for optimal voice and video transmission

• Provision of imagery and additional supplemental data to the call taker

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Timing and Availability of the POC Demonstration Report

http://www.its.dot.gov/NG911

• Final version was approved for publication by USDOT

• Likely available on the USDOT website by 11/30/2008

• The USDOT-funded NG9-1-1 Initiative was limited in scope by available time / funds

• Several opportunities to continue discovery and research are defined in the POC Demonstration Results document