The Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) is the advisory committee of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)). The recommendation the council makes goes a long way in implementing technologies for public and private organizations. The trial the CSRIC is conducting for indoor wireless technology is taking place from November 15 through December 31, 2012. The purpose of the trial is to find the best technology for PSAPs or public safety answering points, a system designed to locate emergency callers with greater accuracy and speed. Polaris’ indoor technology and deployments around the world makes it one of the most experienced companies in the trial for this technology.
The study will be conducted in urban, suburban and rural communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. According to Polaris, it is the only network-based location technology provider in the group as others withdrew from participating in the CSRIC trials.
“We are very enthusiastic to participate in the CSRIC trial for indoor location. This vote of confidence reflects our leading-edge location technology performance, especially in indoor environments, through deployments all over the world,” said Manlio Allegra, Polaris Wireless CEO and co-founder, in a statement.
The trail will involve testing indoor location technologies and CSRIC will determine which company will be able to provide the best solution for first responders out in the field during emergencies. Polaris Wireless, Boeing (News - Alert), NexNav and Qualcomm are the four companies participating in the trail.
The Polaris solution is part of its Polaris Wireless Location Signatures, a software solution that eliminates compatibility issues by not requiring changes in the wireless device and service provider base stations. Compatibility issues oftentimes create problems between service providers and the devices consumers use. By getting rid of this obstacle a more reliable system can be put in place. This becomes critical during emergency situations where every second can be the difference between life and death.
The trial couldn’t have come at a better time as mobile phones are increasingly becoming the only device people use to make phone calls, even while they are at home where there is a landline. The FCC estimates 70 percent of all 911 calls are made from mobile devices and a large portion of those calls are made indoors.
Understanding the capability of location technology indoors will give CSRIC a more accurate assessment of the solution these companies provide to determine if they are ready for implementation in real world applications.