Contacting Emergency Services in the Digital AgeA Briefing provided by the Institution of Engineering and Technology

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2Contacting Emergency Services in the Digital AgeA Briefing provided by The Institution of Engineering and Technology© The IET 2015www.theiet.org/factfiles

About This Briefing

The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) acts as a voice for the engineering and technology professions by providing independent, reliable and factual information to the public and policy makers. This Briefing aims to provide an accessible guide to current technologies and scientific facts of interest to the public.

For more Briefings, Position Statements and Factfiles on engineering and technology topics please visit:http://www.theiet.org/factfiles.

© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015

IET Introduction

The IET is working to engineer a better world through our mission to inspire, inform and influence the global engineering community, supporting technology innovation to meet the needs of society. It is the Professional Home for Life® for engineers and technicians, and a trusted source of Essential Engineering Intelligence®. The IET has over 163,000 members in 127 countries, with offices in Europe, North America, South Asia and Asia-Pacific.

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� The IET works to build and enhance the profile of engineering - and to change outdated perceptions about engineering - in order to tackle the engineering and technology skills gap. This includes encouraging more women to become engineers and growing the number of engineering apprentices.

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Contents

Why change? ........................................................................ 3

Issues ................................................................................... 3

Possible ways forward ........................................................... 4

Present position & key players ............................................... 4

Objectives ............................................................................. 5

Capabilities ........................................................................... 5

Standards ............................................................................. 6

3Contacting Emergency Services in the Digital AgeA Briefing provided by The Institution of Engineering and Technology© The IET 2015www.theiet.org/factfiles

clear benefits to be realised from smooth interworking with the 999 service. Thus there is a strong case for considering these services in a coordinated way.

Though mobile technology has spread through age groups much faster than many other new developments user interface and ‘digital divide’ issues also require (global) attention to make access intuitive throughout society

These services are a very visible way in which the individual engages with the state, and have a correspondingly significant impact on the assessment of public services. An emergency call may only be the start of a wider engagement process.

Issues

� We must provide end to end system integration from caller to responder.

� This is a distributed problem, and consideration must Include database issues.

� Security/privacy could be a concern as information exchange becomes richer; any modern system needs to be secured against hacking, be it vandalism or terrorism motivated. This needs to be built into standards; and it is by no means clear the existing systems are not vulnerable.

� Technology needs to embrace society in the round: Although smartphones are relatively ubiquitous there will still be less-connected groups such as some older people

� Business models that work for all including in the control room/triage need to be developed; but these systems may not be expensive and are likely to save money overall.

� A key concern is that many of the capabilities needed, both in commerce and in government, are independently ‘siloed’ - co-ordination will be a key government function.

� There may be a need to facilitate across different sectors - it is well recognised that markets do not work well across silos - and the range of players is rapidly increasing.

Why change?

Communications have changed drastically since the world-leading UK ‘999’ service was launched in London in the late 1930s.

We are now ‘Digital by Default’ and data rather than voice dominate as do increasingly smart mobile handsets rather than land lines. Furthermore younger people are shown by Ofcom data to be more likely to use data services including text and social media than voice, as might any user faced with high ambient sound. Most calls are made from mobiles - and the modern smart mobile has extensive capabilities (such as call trace, messaging, video, GPS enhanced mapping) that can greatly improve response but are not yet being fully used. Control room systems are also being upgraded providing an opportunity to utilise richer information. There is great potential for overall cost reduction and transformation during 2016 - 2018 providing we start now.

Many of those involved have realised this and a lot of excellent work is being done on specific technology-based services, in control rooms and in eCall for example. However the area is fragmenting with lots of new initiatives being spawned on the back of accessible technology and the strong societal take-up that they receive. There is an insufficiently coordinated approach to harnessing the benefits of new technologies and thus a lack of a common interface to enable these new ‘calls’ to be handled effectively. There is general agreement that, whilst tactical improvements in many areas are moving ahead there is an urgent need for an overall strategy.

This is a global issue - with the continuing rapid change in communications technology we need an adaptable framework within which such services can fit - both in basic engineering terms (a common API, Application Programming Interface) and in management and regulatory terms.

We note that services that are not strictly ‘emergency’, in particular the health-focused 111 service, have the same issues with developing technology and triage and there are

4Contacting Emergency Services in the Digital AgeA Briefing provided by The Institution of Engineering and Technology© The IET 2015www.theiet.org/factfiles

� It is vital to have user involvement early - both in interface design and in inventing new services.

� Tactics & strategy should be handled separately but in a coordinated way.

� There is a key function in approving apps for operation with the system and responsibility for this will need to be assigned.

� Emergent technologies such as ‘health apps’ need to be accommodated and exploited.

Possible ways forward

The pace of change feels fast and the many ways forward would benefit from coordination. Areas where the IET could help include;

� In the short-term, bring together a preliminary ‘strategy’ working group of selected key players to coordinate and to pull in the ‘new’ players including BSI, 5G IC and Ofcom.

� Possibly later, convene a larger open meeting to promote discussion on the wider topic area.

� Start a LinkedIn group and a means for sharing documents.

� Identify the most appropriate group to sponsor ‘hackathons’ - a means to get young entrepreneurs to develop experimental systems to see what works. (This requires preliminary standard interfaces and sponsorship - not necessarily by government.)

Present position & key players

A number of initiatives are concurrently moving forward; � MAIT (Multi-Agency Incident Transfer) initiative

run by BAPCO (British Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials) - developing Control Room standards for information transfer.

� 999/112 Apps - BAPCO developing an approval process, working to the DCMS led 999/112 Liaison Committee.

� AML (Advanced Mobile Location) a BT plc project, working with device manufacturers and mobile communication service providers.

� Control Room upgrades for compatibility with ESMCP - Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme.

� Understanding caller expectations - Ofcom Consumer Panel is being explored as a suitable vehicle, the RSA may be another.

� eCall (automatic vehicle accident alert), in conjunction with the EU and car & part suppliers and other alert systems from motorcycles to monitoring older people.

� NEMA (The National Emergency Management Association) standards (US) http://www.nemaweb.org/.

� Other standards bodies.

It is clear that this is just the start, and many more ideas and techniques will emerge, and that these have the potential to greatly improve services and to reduce costs.

The satellite indicates the precise location

of the vehicle.

Emergency call centre 112minimum set of dataData connectionVoice connection

LegendPSAP112MSD

(GNSS) Positioning

eCall

Immediately after the accident,

the vehicle unit transmits the followingdata to PSAP 112: time

and location of the accident, direction andnumber of passengers.

The passengers may then communicate with the

112 operator.

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Integrated Emergency System

The emergency system sends units to the

location of the accident

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Unified TrafficInformation System

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An operator of the 112 emergency number can see the

location of the accident on the map as well as the data transmitted by

the eCall system and communicates with the passengers. They ensure immediate sending of emergency

units and forward information about the accident to the traffic

information management centre

eCall (automatic vehicle accident alert)

5Contacting Emergency Services in the Digital AgeA Briefing provided by The Institution of Engineering and Technology© The IET 2015www.theiet.org/factfiles

Capabilities

Modern smartphones are very powerful devices with many capabilities that can be exploited to allow the emergency responders to improve triage and match response to need. For example:

� A call/alert might transfer control of the device to the responder end, allowing the use of video & audio to assess the situation more accurately, as well as providing accurate location and perhaps user health data.

� This capability might be extended to other smartphones in the immediate area of an alert, allowing even more accurate assessment.

� Such systems could be intelligently responsive - for example in some situations such as post-accident or post-mechanical-shock handsets could be automatically voice control enabled, to cover situations where the user cannot operate them normally.

� Handsets could have an agreed global standard user interface for all alerts - allowing anyone to use them easily (this also implies standards work as above).

� Many calls, for example from vehicles (eCall) and people (older users) and fire and other alarms might be automated.

� The prospects for integration of wearable health-monitoring devices that are likely to be increasingly popular are considerable. Note that this covers calls to non-emergency 111, as well as 999 calls and could enable responders to make much more accurate assessments. In some circumstances (such as heart attacks or falls) where the user is disabled such calls might be automated.

The function of these services are all critically dependent on the changing interface to the user/caller and the way people will react to it - consideration of this needs to be part of any action.

New interfaces and data handling capability can also be very helpful in increasing efficiency at the ‘supplier’ end of these services. For example it is much easier for a machine to deduce useful triage information from text input. And there is the need to provide compatible/inter-workable systems for the emergency services themselves.

Another important feature of the new landscape is the larger number of players involved - not just communications service providers and the emergency services but also handset and handset operating system makers, “internet-of-things” device manufacturers, particularly “wearables” and other health-focused systems. The possibilities for engineering research challenges are also considerable, embracing social sciences.The regulatory position will also be affected by these changes.BSI could be extremely helpful here in allowing the UK to lead global developments, and might for example manage a ‘kitemark’ system for approved applications and devices.

Objectives

� Develop an integrated approach covering both tactics and strategy and all digitally connected devices and systems; not just smartphones but smart TVs, tablets and potentially any connected device such as a vehicle, with an integrated ‘business process’ that makes sense.

� This needs to span the entire chain from the caller to the dispatch of emergency services resources from the control room.

� Standards for alert calls: � Standard interfaces for alerting systems and

applications to allow open development of the actual devices and systems. These would normally be defined at the gateway interface with the emergency services operational centre.

� Standard user interfaces so that any user anywhere can quickly understand how to make a call on an unfamiliar device.

� Global mobile standards where the requirement is the inclusion of a specific functionality on all new mass produced smartphones to enable the mass use of new emergency altering and applications.

� Develop pace and momentum: standards are needed urgently, especially if the UK wishes to lead in this area.

� Standards being developed for smart cities may be an opportunity.

� A framework of APIs to enable smart people, especially smart young people, to invent new services that might enhance performance and save lives.

6Contacting Emergency Services in the Digital AgeA Briefing provided by The Institution of Engineering and Technology© The IET 2015www.theiet.org/factfiles

Standards (essential for a modern 999 service)Fast moving technology brings enormous benefits but in some areas a lack of common standards can create an impenetrable barrier to those benefits ever being delivered universally. This is particularly true where “networks” or critical mass and/or user acceptance are indispensable. This is exactly the case for modernising the 999 service for a digital age. Some standards can be sorted out by the industries but others maybe challenging, for example where different industry “silos” are involved or an input is needed from public bodies such as the emergency services. A successful new priority 999 communications alert for a digital data age will require at least three different sorts of standards. They need to be defined clearly as the route to creating each is quite different:

System Interface Standards (horizontal API’s)These are essential for alerting systems and applications to be able to successfully communicate with the emergency services operational control rooms. These would normally be defined at the gateway interface with the emergency services operational centres. Internet protocols are likely to be an important component of these standards but are not sufficient. However, they must not be over-specified either. They must be “open” in the sense of allowing any vendor to supply alerting systems and applications and any vendor to tender for implementing the complementary control room changes. It is also important for them being defined in a sufficiently flexible way to allow future “backward compatible” evolutions. These standards could be national but there a huge advantages for them to be at least European if not fully international to secure scale economies.

Line of action: First drafts of these standards have to start somewhere and that could be undertaken by a group of like-minded UK interests brought together under this initiative and then taken into a European or international standards body. The body could be one of the recognised standards bodies like ETSI or a relevant industry base group with the necessary influence. An important factor is to get the timing right. See section below on timing.

Global mobile standards Where the widespread deployment of a new alerting system or application requires the inclusion of a specific functionality in all new mass produced smartphones - a global standard is the only way to go. These requirements need to find their way onto the road map for global mobile standards produced by an influential international standards making body such as the 3G PP.

Line of action: The UK mobile network operators are best placed to take these requirements into the 3G PP. There could be a bit of “warming-up” done in ETSI to assist in the consensus building. Support of the EU Commission would assist in helping ETSI prioritise this. This is a long lead time activity and getting in early with some initial proposals has advantages in getting action started even if the proposals are not the last word.

Standard “User Interfaces” The success of the 999 service is partly down to it being so imbedded in everyone’s consciousness what number to dial, how to dial it and what to expect from the other end. Creating that degree of unconscious familiarity has to be an essential part of the introduction strategy for any new more advanced type of emergency calls. Many people facing a frightening event mentally freeze. The very young or very old can be confronted by the need to call 999. The aim has to be for any user (of any age and mental state) to quickly understand how to make a limited number of new advanced types of emergency calls on an unfamiliar device. That can only be achieved by making choices which new advanced types of emergency calls are eventually to be adopted “nationally” and for the associated user interface for each to be defined and fully standardised across all devices.

Line of Action: BSI could have a role to play here in developing the standard and “kite marking” conforming applications and devices. Internationalisation of such a standard would offer a benefit to all the UK citizens that travel abroad (and visitors from overseas coming to the UK) but achieving such international standards is likely to be harder to achieve. It may not be worth the wait.

Successful standards making is always about getting the timing rightMove too quickly to standardise and the standards may get overtaken if they have failed to capture the best ideas. Move too slowly and too many ideas find their way into the market and interests become entrenched defending their investments. There has to be a period of exploration and experimentation. There has to be a standards process ready to move quickly when enough is known for choices to be made. Successful industry standards making by consensus has to be open to all proposals, transparent in resolving conflicts and apply fair rules in arriving at the final standards.

Line of Action: There has to be “governance” overseeing this initiative that can recognise when the ideal standardisation time window has arrived and galvanise activity.

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© The IET 2015

Issue 1.0 - June 2015

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