European Standardisation Organisations choose the eCall transmission channel

Creation date: 05 March 2009

ETSI, the European Telecommunication Standardisation Institute (ETSI-MSG) and 3GPP evaluated a number of possible technical solutions to produce a recommendation for an eCall common standard and communication protocol. Several candidates applied to 3GPP in order to test their technology during last summer. At the end of the testing process, 3GPP announced that the transmission technology that best satisfied the eCall requirements was the in-band modem developed by Qualcomm.

The test results revealed that the modem presented by Qualcom is a feasible and sustainable solution as it does not require any modification of the network and 112 calls would never be blocked if a failure occurs.  Although very unlikely, if the eCall were to be forwarded to a non upgraded PSAP, the operator would just wait for two seconds for the voice call to be established.

Moreover, the modem could be enabled to provide bidirectional communication. In addition, the transmission of the MSD is well within the requirements either in normal conditions (1.37 sec.) or bad conditions (2.1 sec. in average).

The technology is ready for implementation and it will be free of charge for PSAPs and vehicles, if used for emergency calls. The selection of Qualcomm in-band modem technology is a major step forward towards eCall implementation.

eSafety Support is a European Commission funded project coordinated by ERTICO - ITS Europe