eAML – eurofunk Advanced Mobile Location
Now fully integrated into our mission control and communication system portfolio
„Where exactly are you located?“.
This is one of the first questions you will hear during emergency call processing in a control center and it is here, right at the beginning of the call, where eurofunk Advanced Mobile Location (eAML) is most useful. This article describes the full integration of AML into the eurofunk products of emergency and communication control technology.
AML is a worldwide initiative, mainly driven by Google, to eliminate the problem of cell phone location detection when making emergency calls. Cell phones that support AML automatically send several SMS messages with current location data after the emergency call has been dialed. Making an emergency call immediately activates the cell phone‘s GPS receiver and existing WLAN networks which can then be used for localization.
Without AML, as is the case with older technologies that only transmit the position of the radio cell (radio masts, center) instead of the exact position of the smartphone, positioning accuracy is a problem. The size of radio cells can vary greatly which means that the smartphone, and with it the caller, can be a good distance from the nearest radio cell.
Determining exact location data by AML
AML has position accuracy of 15 to 50 meters and saves up to 800 lives annually. It is an integral part of the telephone’s operating system – no app required – and positioning data is sent with the emergency call.
In Germany and Austria, location data is transmitted to the official AML endpoint of the respective country and forwarded from there directly to the responsible control center.
AML and eAML – technical interaction
Integrated into eurofunk’s communication technologies IDDS UCiP and emc2 is the AML endpoint, which means that both systems receive AML data directly. For information security reasons, the connection is always established from the communication system to the AML endpoint. As soon as the AML data is available, it is automatically passed on to ELDIS 3 via the existing interface.
Implementation is planned for use on existing technology with an update to the software. With eAML, the eurofunk communication system draws data from the AML endpoint while the dispatcher is talking to the emergency caller. This is done automatically in the background without user interaction. For users, everything stays the same.
eAML is user friendly with a seamless integration into the existing technology that makes the AML positioning data easy to find.
This applies to familiar workflows as well as representations of positioning data. For example, in ELDIS 3, an operation can be opened via the AML position in the operation processing (EIBA) or the exact AML position can be viewed by GEO Appliance.
Emergency numbers
eurofunk eAML products support all possible emergency numbers although AML itself is currently only activated for selected ones. Country-specific requirements regarding emergency numbers must be considered at this point.
AML was originally designed for the Euro emergency hotline 112. From a purely technical point of view, however, the German solution for fire and rescue services is viable for use with other country-specific numbers as well. Currently, work is underway to provide a separate AML endpoint for the police emergency hotline 110 for the whole country.
In Austria, where numerous emergency numbers are in use, AML is already operational for 122, 140, 141, 144 and 128.
What‘s next?
The current eAML implementation for eurofunk products is just the beginning. This has been strongly oriented towards the so-called eCall implementation and has already found approval with first customers. Both eAML and AML will continue to evolve; plans for higher accuracy and augmented presentation are already underway.
