4/7/2023 Jenny Applequist
The team is building tools to assess the interoperability of 9-1-1 system components.
Written by Jenny Applequist
America’s 9-1-1 systems are heading towards a higher-tech future in which users aren’t limited to placing voice calls, but can reach out for help by text message, and can even transmit data such as photos and videos. Many different components from various sources must be cobbled together to provide the new capabilities—but what if it turns out that the components don’t work well together? A project in ITI’s DHS-funded Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute (CIRI) has been working since 2021 to ensure the function of such so-called Next-Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) systems by developing an easy-to-use test suite that can objectively determine whether a proposed component will be able to interoperate with other components.
The project’s PI, Dr. Walt Magnussen of Texas A&M University, explained that the shift from legacy 9-1-1 to NG9-1-1 will not only provide a myriad of new capabilities but also allow for shorter development times and lower costs—but that the past approach, of having a single big company build and run an entire 9-1-1 system, is no longer viable.
“We’ve now got smaller companies and many more companies that are building sub-elements of the network,” said Magnussen. “So one person does the policy part of the routing. Another one does the geographic location part of the routing. Another one does the security part of the routing. Another one does the call-taking. So you’ve got different companies that go into a single system. So all of a sudden now, interoperability becomes a major concern.”
Almost twenty years ago, industry standards for NG9-1-1 interoperability began to be written, so today, standards exist that define whether a component can be considered interoperable.
“Problem is,” explained Magnussen, “the end user doesn’t really know, when they’re buying a system, whether or not they really actually are conforming to standards. Because everybody could say that they are, and most people do; but there’s also various levels of conformance to the standards. I can add features above the standards as long as I don’t lose the basic standards conformance.”
That’s where the CIRI project comes in. It’s developing a test system that can evaluate devices’ interoperability. “The test system sends packets into the system under test and then waits for answers to come back,” said Magnussen. “The test system then examines those answers, and if the answers conform with the standards, it’s compliant; if they don’t, it’s not.”
The core team includes researchers from Texas A&M, UIUC, and an Austrian company called GridGears that will help with software development. ITI’s Darko Marinov, a UIUC professor of computer science, is a co-PI.
To date, the team has developed a prototype and put together a test lab. In the next phase of the project, currently awaiting funding, they will develop all of the needed software test suites.
Magnussen pointed out a notable aspect of the effort to establish NG9-1-1 interoperability: its international flavor. In the past, different regions of the globe have often gone in different directions with respect to standards. In this case, much of the world is working together. “This is really one of the first times that everybody’s been supporting the same standards,” he said.
Overseeing all aspects of the conformance testing process is a governance group with over 70 representatives from industry, public safety, academia, and federal agencies.