3GPP eCall specifications set to save lives

3GPP has come forward with new 3GPP specifications which will allow all vehicles in Europe to make a 112 emergency call with relevant data about an accident or major incident.

eCall is referred as an interoperable in-vehicle emergency call service. It is a project of the European Commission intended to bring rapid assistance to motorists involved in a collision anywhere in the European Union. According to reports from the European Commission, it is foreseen that eCall will be offered on all new vehicles in the EU by 2010.

eCall In-band Modem is used for reliable transmission of the eCall Minimum Set of Data (MSD) from an In-Vehicle System (IVS) to the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) via the voice channel of cellular and PSTN networks.

The eCall In-band Modem uses the same voice channel as used for the emergency voice call. eCall allows reliable transmission of MSD alternating with a speech conversation through the existing voice communication paths in cellular mobile phone systems.

The expected benefit is that emergency services will be made aware of accidents much more rapidly, will get precise information on location, vehicle type etc. and therefore will be able to reach accident victims faster, with the potential to save many lives annually.

3GPP release 8 specification, 3GPP TS 26.267: "eCall Data Transfer; In-band modem solution; General Description", explains eCall system overiview, requirements and function details of eCall IVS & PSAP data modems.

LTE needs VoLGA

LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a data only technology but it seems that we can not live without voice or SMS services. VoLGA forum claims that VoLGA specifications fill this gap. A number of telecom companies (including Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei) are showing interest in VoLGA and are part of VoLGA forum.

According VoLGA stage 1 specification, The aim of VoLGA is to make traditional GSM/UMTS circuit switched (CS) services available to UEs accessing the EPS network via E-UTRAN.

The lack of native SMS over LTE support is a show-stopper for LTE dongle service. Mobile operators rely on SMS for back office customer care, provisioning and management of HSPA-dongle services. Clearly those systems need to be available to an LTE-based terminal service at launch.

For Voice calls LTE based UEs may have to wait for IMS rollout and LTE may remain data only service for longer time. VoLGA claims to fill this GAP.

read more at lteworld.org