A VPC is a VoIP Positioning Center, and is a service provider contracted by a VSP to provide it 9-1-1 services. The VPC has connections to the database the PSAPs make queries to (the ALI). ALI queries are made with telephone numbers, and can return a civic or a geo address. The connection between the VPC and the ALI database is called "E2" (or another interface, "PAM").The VPC gets the address and decides which PSAP should get the call. It then allocates a phone number to the call that is area code appropriate for the PSAP. It can't use the real phone number, because the system does not accommodate non-local area codes and the caller could be roaming. These are generically called "pseudoANIs" (pANIs) or, more specifically for i2, Emergency Services Query Keys (ESQKs). The ESQK is associated with a specific PSAP. When presented to the 9-1-1 tandem ("Selective Router"), that number will cause the call to be routed to the right PSAP.
The VPC saves the location. When the PSAP queries ALI with the ANI it gets on the call (which in this case would be the ESQK the VPC allocated for it), the query is "steered" to the VPC that owns it over the E2 interface. When the VPC gets the query, it responds with the location of the caller. This may be a civic or a geo.
Pursuant to Section 1.2 of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R. § 1.2, the Global IP Alliance submits these comments in response to the Commission's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the above captioned proceeding. These comments consist of a document prepared by Professor Henning Schulzrinne3 with the Global IP Alliance and considers how to move towards a globally-oriented, more robust and functional IP-based next-generation emergency response.
Providing emergency services in VoIP networks is vital to the success of VoIP. It not only presents design and implementation challenges, but also gives an opportunity to enhance the existing emergency call handling infrastructure. We propose an architecture to deliver emergency services in SIP-based VoIP networks, which can accommodate PSTN calls through PSTN to SIP gateways. Our architecture addresses the issues of identifying emergency calls, determining callers’ locations, routing emergency calls to appropriate public safety access points (PSAP), and presenting required information to emergency call takers. We have developed a prototype implementation to prove our architecture's feasibility and scalability. We expect to undertake a pilot project at a working PSAP with our implementation once it is thoroughly tested.
Summoning emergency help is a core feature of telephone networks. This document describes how the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) can be used to provide advanced emergency services for voice-over-IP (VoIP). The architecture employs standard SIP features and requires no new protocol mechanisms. DNS is used to map civil and geospatial locations to the appropriate emergency call center.
This document enumerates some of the major opportunities and challenges for providing emergency call (9-1-1) services using IP technology. In particular, all VoIP devices are effectively mobile. The same IP telephony device works anywhere in the Internet, keeping the same external identifier such as an E.164 number or URL. Transitioning to an IP-based E9-1-1 infrastructure not only supports emerging VoIP systems, but can also greatly improve the capabilities of the emergency call infrastructure. It can become more resilient, sets up calls faster, better supports subscribers with hearing disabilities, adds multimedia information to better direct resources, allows competition for elements of the network infrastructure, conveys more call-associated data and allowmore cost-effective PSAP technology.
March 2001 (outdated). If Internet
Telephony is to offer a full replacement for traditional telephone
services, it needs to provide emergency call services. In the United
States, emergency calls are known as 911 services, based on the number
dialed. This note desccribes some options for providing enhanced
emergency service, i.e., emergency calls that allow emergency response
centers to determine the address where the caller is located. This is
made more difficult by the temporary nature of IP addresses, the large
number of ISPs and their lack of legal responsibility for emergency
services and the ability of many Internet terminals to be connected to
the Internet at different locations. This note explores some of the
requirements and design choices.
Last updated by Henning Schulzrinne