After several months of testing, the people from STS finally announced the launch in Romania of the much more accurate location technology of citizens who call the emergency number 112, AML being finally implemented for iPhone and Android in our country.
STS announced that all citizens who call 112 at the moment and have a phone compatible with AML technology will be located much more precisely, and here we are also talking about those who make fake calls, so it would be good to give up this practice.
"Citizens who call the emergency number 112 from their smartphone benefit from Advanced Mobile Location (AML) technology. The facility was implemented by the Special Telecommunications Service (STS), together with mobile operators and in partnership with Google and Apple. This technology allows the transmission to the 112 System of the geographical coordinates associated with the place from which the call is made, exclusively during the emergency call and under no other conditions.
AML also supports people with hearing and/or speech disabilities who send SMS to 113 from phones with the Android operating system.
The AML facility, developed and made available free of charge to emergency services to support smartphone users in emergency situations, does not require the installation of additional components or applications and has an accuracy of meters/tens of meters.
"At this moment, AML works throughout the country, and when citizens call 112, STS operators and dispatchers of intervention agencies have at their disposal the geographical coordinates with much greater accuracy. We carried out tests, analyzed various technical-operational scenarios and integrated all the necessary configurations, so that this technology would support the caller as much as possible. At the same time, it was necessary to update the legislation for the implementation of this technology.
We are continuing the steps to modernize the 112 System through a project financed by European funds that we want to complete in 2021," said Major General Eng. Ionel-Sorin Bălan, first deputy director of STS.
For almost five months, STS' engineering and programmer teams collaborated with Google's Android ELS team to perform preliminary tests and improve the accuracy of 112 call location. Also, the implementation was carried out in close connection with the major operators mobile telephony in Romania, who carried out work in their own infrastructures, to facilitate the transmission of AML information to the emergency service.
During the same period, the infrastructure of System 112 was configured to allow the reception of the geographical position transmitted from the phones with the iOS operating system, a fact confirmed by Apple following the tests it has carried out so far. At the end of March, the update of the iOS operating system to version 13.4 was released, which allows the provision of AML localization for iPhone users as well. Unlike the solution offered by Google, Apple terminals transmit the position to the 112 System only in the case of emergency phone calls, not in the case of sending emergency SMS messages to the number 113.
AML OPERATION – ANDROID
Mandatory conditions for providing location information through the ELS/AML service:
1. the phone must include the Android operating system, starting with OS version 4.0 or higher and have Google Play Services installed;
2. the user has not opted in advance to deactivate the ELS service, from the location settings of his phone;
3. the phone must be registered in a mobile network in Romania, with access to SMS and/or internet services;
4. the phone must have integrated GPS and WiFi functions.
How does ELS work?
The ELS Android service recognizes when a user makes an emergency call to 112 or when an SMS is sent to 113 and will calculate the location using multiple location sources (AGPS, mobile network, WiFi and phone sensors). ELS locations are calculated on the device and sent via SMS and/or Internet directly to the 112 System using industry standard protocols.
When does ELS not work?
1. does not work for phones that do not have a SIM card inserted or that have SIM cards with inactive services;
2. does not work if the phone is set to airplane mode;
3. does not work for phones with battery level below 10%.
Other specifications:
1. the ELS service will activate only when calling the number 112, respectively when sending messages to the number 113 intended for people with hearing and/or speech disabilities, the rest of the time being inactive, without consuming battery;
2. the location information is transmitted from the mobile phone directly to the 112 System; Google does not receive this location transmitted to the emergency service;
3. if when calling the emergency number 112 the internet connection is stopped, the ELS service will transmit the position but only by SMS;
4. for the proper transmission and display of the timestamp accompanying the AML type location information, it is recommended to activate the option to automatically update the date and time associated with the mobile phone.
AML OPERATION – iOS
Mandatory conditions for providing AML location information for iPhone:
1. the phone's operating system must be updated to version 13.4;
2. the phone must be registered in one of the following mobile networks in Romania with which Apple agrees to implement AML;
3. the phone must have access to the SMS service.
How does AML work on iPhones?
When a user initiates a call to the emergency number 112, the iPhone calculates the position by integrating data from several sources, such as satellite systems and WiFi networks. Afterwards, the coordinates are packaged in an SMS that is sent directly to the 112 Service, without the need for any further operation.
When does AML not work on iPhones?
1. does not work for phones that do not have a SIM card inserted or that have SIM cards with inactive services;
2. when sending emergency messages to the SMS 113 service.
Other mentions:
At this moment, the reception of geographic coordinates through AML technology is not available for callers who are in international roaming, as well as for those who do not have a signal in their own network (national roaming).
For the efficient use of the information provided by AML technology, operating procedures were updated and all SNUAU staff were trained in this regard.
All four localization methods implemented in our country (AML, APEL 112 mobile application, Geolocation and Cell ID/Sector ID) are complementary to each other, but none of them are infallible. As it happens in other countries that have implemented solutions to transmit geographic coordinates during emergency calls, each method has a certain success rate. Thus, according to the 112 European Association of Emergency Number 2019 (EENA) report, at the European level, the success rate for AML is up to 65%. For this reason, citizens who call 112 are asked to provide and confirm their location details as much as possible.
The Special Telecommunications Service is constantly analyzing new solutions and technologies that can ensure the improvement of caller location in the most diverse technical conditions.
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Several types of localization are implemented within the 112 Service in Romania: Cell ID/Sector ID, AML, APEL 112, Geolocation 112.
Primary location – Cell ID/Sector ID uses the data transmitted by the mobile phone cell serving the caller at the time of call initiation and indicates an indicative area, in the form of a sector of a circle. This area can range from tens of square meters to tens of square kilometers.
For AML type localization, the surface is reduced to a circle with a radius of several meters/several tens of meters.
Complementary to Cell ID/Sector ID and AML localization, STS has implemented two other localization methods – Geolocation 112 and the APEL 112 mobile application.
Geolocation 112 – through this method, following an emergency call, the caller receives from the 112 System an SMS containing a location link, which, after being accessed, allows, with the consent of the caller, the transmission to the 112 System of the geographical coordinates provided by the operating system, through the integrated location services, using the data service associated with the mobile phone.
APEL 112 mobile application – can be downloaded for free from Google Play and App Store on all smart phones. The application allows calling the emergency service with a single touch on the screen and, at the same time, transmitting the phone's position to the 112 System, also using the data service associated with the mobile phone.
According to the European Emergency Number 112 Association (EENA), the AML tracking solution is functional in 19 countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Iceland, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Norway, New Zealand, Netherlands, Slovenia, United States, Sweden and UK."
