U.S. DOT Next Generation 9-1-1
Project: A National Framework
and Deployment Plan
5th Standards Development Organizations (SDO)
Emergency Services Workshop
October 10, 2008 – Vienna, AT
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
Virtually all calls are voice callers via
telephones over analog lines.
Next Generation 9-1-1
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
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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
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
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• Developer of a prototype of the NG9-1-1 system
The Need For NG9-1-1
• Today’s 9-1-1 system is being outpaced by emerging
technologies
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– 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)
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 ConOps
Define functional requirements
High-level architectural design
Task 3: Proof of Concept (POC)
[Completed]
POC System Design
Human Machine Interface (HMI) Design
POC 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
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At NO time during the POC were 'live' calls used.
Vehicle Telematics in NG9-1-1
Example Use Case
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• 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 subscriberbased information)
• All the data (NG9-1-1 and
telematics) is forwarded for
use by dispatch and the
emergency responders which
can influence the emergency
response
Proof of Concept Results
• A total of 116 functional requirements were tested
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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
POC Test Results
All Completed Tests
12.50%
PASS
FAIL
87.50%
• 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
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The full POC Demonstration Report will be posted to the USDOT website shortly
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 Risk
Final Transition Plan
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Transition Planning
• Cost, Value & Risk
• Transition Issues
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Funding
Operations
Standards & Technology
Governance & Policy
Education
• Deployment Approaches
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– Independent, Unilateral
(bottom up)
– Coordinated,
Intergovernmental (top down)
• Strategies
• Options
• Models
NG9-1-1 Initiative Documents Available
http://www.its.dot.gov/NG911
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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
• Proof of Concept
NG9-1-1 Transition Issues Report
Testing Report
Data Acquisition and Analysis Plan
• Final Analysis of Cost,
Preliminary Transition Plan
Value and Risk
• Final Transition Plan
After November 2008…
Requirements
National
Standards
Transition Plan
Acquisition Tools
Office
• DOT / DOC – Joint Program
• Housed @ USDOT / NHTSA
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Contact Information:
Laurie Flaherty
[email protected]
(202) 366-2705
Linda Dodge
[email protected]
(202) 366-8034
Visit USDOT’s NG9-1-1 website: http://www.its.dot.gov/ng911/
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Task 3: Proof-of-Concept
“Lessons Learned”
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 both
diverse 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 the
project 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 the
project team. (continued)
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• 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)
In many cases, the technology is not the limiting
factor, but how the community understands and
leverages the technology can be an obstacle.
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• 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
Timing and Availability of the POC
Demonstration Report
• 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
http://www.its.dot.gov/NG911
• Final version was approved for publication by USDOT
• Likely available on the USDOT website by 11/30/2008
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