The Wireless Broadband Association (WBA) has released a trio of reports aimed at providing a framework for how Wi-Fi, Passpoint, and OpenRoaming services “can facilitate and sustain emergency calling and priority communications around the world.”
The reports, which were developed by the organization’s Mission Critical & Emergency Services Program, are “Mission Critical & Emergency Services Cellular Emergency Calling over OpenRoaming\Wi-Fi Networks,” “Mission Critical & Emergency Services National Security & Emergency Preparedness,” and “Mission Critical & Emergency Services.”
The WBA says that the reports collectively cover six areas related to emergency services:
- Wi-Fi as mission-critical infrastructure: Wi-Fi’s evolution to a standards-compliant, resilient infrastructure capable of supporting emergency and public safety services
- Emergency services access: Ways to ensure support for E-911/E-112 calls over Wi-Fi regardless of mobile subscription status
- Priority access for NS/EP users: How to provide real-time prioritization of first responder traffic during network congestion
- OpenRoaming and Passpoint integration: Provisioning of secure, seamless, and policy-based access across federated Wi-Fi networks
- Advanced location handling: Insight into the shared emphasis on accurate, standards-based location delivery using RFC 5580, IEEE 802.11mc Round Trip Time (RTT), and Location Configuration Information (LCI) or emergency call routing to local PSAPs
- Regulatory and legal readiness: Description of the legal frameworks and alignment with 3GPP, IEEE, FCC, and global emergency standards
The “Mission Critical & Emergency Services” reports point out that the goal of blocking thermal radiation in buildings is increasingly effective. A byproduct of this is that the effectiveness of the “outside-in” approach, in which cellular networks provide services indoors is compromised. This builds the case for using Wi-Fi in indoor scenarios. The evolution of Wi-Fi technology in general also bolsters the case for Wi-Fi as an emergency communications platform.
“Emergency communications must be seamless, secure and dependable — indoors, in dense public spaces and during crises,” said WBA President and CEO Tiago Rodrigues in a press release about the emergency services reports.
“These reports show how Wi-Fi and OpenRoaming enhance cellular network emergency communications to deliver seamless, resilient, standards-based services for the public, first responders and emergency services teams coordinating emergency responses.”
In March, the Federal Communications Commission released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that contained five elements that it said would ensure that such platforms are effective, reliable, and interoperable.
