You are in:
EMTEL - Co-ordinating emergency telecommunication requirements
Andrew Norton has been representing BAPCO at the Operational Co-ordination Group (OCG) of EMTEL organised by ETSI (European Telecommunication Standards Institute). Dawn Read talks to Andrew about his involvement and how BAPCO members can help within the Special Interest Group that is to be set up...
An emergency can be anything from everyday incidents like traffic accidents or assault, to major incidents like aeroplane crashes or forest fires, to major disasters such as earthquakes or large-scale terrorist attacks. Emergency Telecommunications - EMTEL - addresses a broad spectrum of aspects related to the use of telecom services in emergency situations.
Both public and private services benefit from the EMTEL work. These include emergency call services, caller location enhanced emergency services, telemedicine, the car industry, and specific public safety communication systems - to mention but a few examples.
ETSI is currently defining the user requirements for the four main areas of emergency communications:
Communication from citizens to authorities/organisations (emergency calls)
Communication between authorities/organisations (public safety comms)
Communication from authorities/organisations to citizens (warning systems)
Communication amongst citizens during emergencies
As pointed out by Andrew Norton, “These user requirements will influence the development of the standards adopted by the ETSI members and as such are central to the BAPCO membership.”
Emergency Telecommunications - EMTEL - a multifaceted concept
The concept of Emergency Telecommunications (EMTEL) addresses a broad spectrum of aspects related to the provisioning of telecommunications services in emergency situations.
Emergency situations may range from a narrow perspective of an individual being in a state of personal emergency (with need to make an emergency call due to sudden illness, traffic accident, outbreak of fire in the home...) to a very broad perspective of serious disruptions to the functioning of society (disaster situations due to events or processes such as earthquakes, floods, large scale terrorist attacks, etc.).
The concept also covers the telecommunications needs of society's dedicated resources for ensuring public safety; including police forces, fire fighting units, ambulance services and other health and medical services, as well as civil defence services. The telecommunications needs of such services have until now been satisfied by dedicated networks and equipment, often different for different services, but with modern technology it is possible to increasingly integrate such services with the public telecommunications services.
Terrestrial and satellite radio/TV broadcasting and Internet services provide means for dissemination of information to the general public, in particular in hazardous and disaster situations.
Telecommunications means may also be increasingly used as parts of various community functions such as health services (e.g. remote patient monitoring to reduce need for hospitalisation).
EMTEL standardisation is important
Interoperability and interfacing of services and systems are of paramount importance in emergency telecommunications. Authorities and public safety organisations must be able to communicate across services, and ideally also across borders, to ensure the efficiency and safety of their personnel. Dedicated equipment and priority access are other crucial requirements. Public networks can quickly become saturated in an emergency situation. Standards are needed to make all this possible, and you can help shape the development of these standards in ETSI.
Furthermore, recent resolutions in bodies such as the ITU Telecommunication Standards Advisory Group (TSAG), the Global Telecommunications Standards Collaboration (GTSC), the Asia-Pacific Standardisation Program (ASTAP) and various ETSI Technical Bodies (in relation to work on Next Generation Networks), as well as the results of the 2002 ETSI EMTEL workshop, all highlight the need for a coordinated approach to emergency communications.
The organisation of emergency and public safety services may vary from country to country, depending on how the society is structured. Citizens are increasingly mobile. They travel for business, for holidays, etc. In order to provide an optimum level of security and accessibility to these citizens in emergency situations, the emergency telecommunications services need harmonisation.
Likewise, to be able to cooperatively utilise the public safety resources of different countries in an effective manner, not only at cross-border operations but also at joint operations in disaster situations, telecommunications networks and equipment must be able to cooperate.
Coordinated standardisation activities are necessary, not only between those technical committees within a Standards Development Organisation (SDO) that address the various telecommunications solutions that support emergency telecommunications, but also in the form of collaboration between the various SDOs.
As a first effort towards reaching the above goals, a highly successful workshop on Emergency Telecommunications was organised by ETSI in February 2002. Subsequently, in September 2002, an EMTEL ad-hoc group under the Operational Co-ordination Group (OCG) was set up to look at standardisation requirements in this area, to interface with the European Commission and to ensure the coordination of work between ETSI technical bodies.
During the first year of its existence, OCG EMTEL has managed to raise awareness with regard to the work ongoing within ETSI across many of the Technical Bodies. Also in 2002/2003, a short study of the localisation of emergency calls has been undertaken under the eEurope initiative.
The potential of EMTEL
Recommendations in the area of emergency telecommunications have already been agreed by the European Union, and more will follow in the future. An example is the new provision that operators should forward caller location information related to 112 emergency calls to the respective authorities. This provision for a caller location enhanced 112 service (E112) has been effective from 25th July 2003. Work to integrate standardised solutions into telecoms standards is currently taking place in ETSI.
EMTEL is also much more than location enhanced emergency calls and radio communications systems for public safety personnel. ‘Smart’ or intelligent cars, clothing and homes are other examples of important and expanding technologies into which EMTEL applications can be integrated. Innovations such as clothes with built-in mobile phones, hazard warning and GPS devices, or microphones linked to voice recognition control systems, could be part of EMTEL’s imminent future.
Andrew Norton explains what the current position of EMTEL is, “The OGC EMTEL has the status of a Special Committee within ETSI. This status was authorised at the ETSI Board meeting in January of this year.”
“Moving to Special Committee status allows the committee to request work packages from other technical committees and to make formal recommendations to the Board. In its previous guise the group was more of a ‘special interest group’. I guess the change is that the committee now has responsibility and authority.”
Duties of the OCG EMTEL
To co-ordinate the setting of emergency telecommunication requirements and undertake measures to efficiently continue and stimulate further co-ordinated work in this area;
To identify relevant work outside ETSI, inform and stimulate appropriate activity in ETSI TBs;
To provide mechanisms for the effective liaison between ETSI TBs, AIG, USER group and with external organisations such as local, national and regional Government Authorities, the EU Commission, Civil Protection and Disaster Relief and Emergency or Security Authorities/Organisations, related activities in ITU, T1, TIA and other SDOs;
To co-ordinate ETSI representation in external bodies such as GTSC (Global Telecommunication Standards Collaboration) on emergency telecommunication matters;
To provide help to TBs to develop a consistent set of deliverables;
To report to OCG on the progress of work;
Who is involved in the Special Committee?
The committee comprises of a wide range of ETSI member organisations from across Europe including: Commercial Member (Marconi, BT, Deutch Telecom, Alcatel, Cisco etc); Regulators (Ofcom etc) from the UK, Switzerland and Germany plus others; End user organisations such as BAPCO, Finish Police and the Norwegen Health Service); Government Agencies (NATO, Hungarian Telecoms agency etc) This list is in no means exhaustive but serves to provide an idea of the level and quantity of involvement.
Two further meetings have already been planned, the first will be held on 12-14 April 2005 in Budapest and the next from 20-22 June 2005 in Cheshire. Commenting Norton says, “ This is a particularly important meeting for BAPCO as we will be hosting the event and hope to involve a group of BAPCO members in a workshop during the meeting, details of this still to be confirmed but clearly this is an opportunity for members to have a direct involvement with the standards making committee.”
Discussing this issue further, Norton explains what involvement BAPCO is seeking from its members. “We are seeking professional comment on documentation containing draft standards produced by the committee.”
“In addition, feedback on standards that are wrong and what standards are needed. Plus an insight into situations where the lack of standards has hampered service provision and indeed where standards can be shown to have improved the service provision.”
This is a real opportunity for members to provide input into a vital area without having to commit large amounts of time. Proposing to run a ‘special interest group’ via email and if necessary the odd telephone conversation. Continuing, Norton states that BAPCO is looking for people from all levels of organisations within the association to participate. Since Norton is the BAPCO officer currently sitting on the ETSI committee along with Ken Mott, any feedback via telephone or email to either is welcomed.
What time frames are involved?
The committee meeting in April will set the work plan for the following 12 months. “I expect to see a dramatic increase in pace given the move to special committee status. Feedback from interested members would be required on a quarterly basis with approximately two documents for review each time. To date I have spent about 2 hours reviewing each document as they are produced so its not a huge undertaking,” adds Norton.
It is important to point out that BAPCO is not expecting to hold meetings but will, where possible, do all the reviews and updates with the BAPCO group via email. “There will be no long term obligation to review or stay on the special interest group, give it a go and see what you think,” comments Norton.
What is your opinion on the Special Committee and EMTEL?
“The SC is a vibrant mix of technology manufacturers, suppliers users and regulators. Given this mix it is great to report that, on the whole, the committee works together and puts aside (as much as possible) political and commercial differences. (Much of this consensus is down to the people involved and the organisational/facilitation skills of ETSI. It is clear that user input is central to the committee and to date this is an area where ETSI has recognised a need for additional input, BAPCO can and should play a central role in this input.”
“Far too often the standards we are forced to adopt do not meet the demands of operational staff, ETSI through this committee are committed to putting this right.”
“BAPCO is a user led association the EMTEL SC is there to drive through the standards users want, the committee has a real willingness to get this right but needs the help and support of a wide user base.” Concludes Norton.
Any interested parties can contact Andrew Norton via andrew.norton@cheshirefire.gov.uk
