European E112 Mobile Emergency Call Regulation (EU) 2019/320 to come into force on March 17th

Smartphones with accurate caller location can play a vital role in emergency services. Therefore, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/320 has introduced to supplement Directive 2014/53/EU with regard to the application of the essential requirements referred to in Article 3(3)(g) of RED Directive. These ensure accurate caller location in emergency communications from mobile devices, and will come into force from March 17th 2022.

The new system will take advantage of the European navigation satellite system, Galileo, to enhance the 112 emergency calls from mobiles across the EU by improving the accuracy of the positioning system and thus the response times. Applus+ Laboratories is a Notified Body for the European RED Directive (NB 0370) and we provide market access services for radio equipment worldwide. 
 

Information for manufacturers:

The guidelines for compliance with Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/320 stipulate the test environment and test items as follows:

1. COMPATIBILITY WITH GALILEO
   1. NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) output, exposed and logged in NMEA-0183 protocol format;
   2. Time to first fix (TTFF ≤ 60 seconds for signal level down to -130 dBm);
   3. Horizontal accuracy test;
   4. Galileo OSNMA (Navigation message authentication readiness);
   5. Exposure of Additional Galileo Observables.
2. AML TEST (advanced mobile positioning): Compatibility of the processing and transmission mechanisms of handset-derived caller location with the national Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) systems via SMS or HTTP.
   1. Use of WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK FOR POSITIONING:
   2. WLAN first positioning time (TTFF)
   3. WLAN positioning accuracy.
3. The further notes on Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/320 as follows:
   1. Smartphones shall be capable of receiving and processing individual GNSS signals in L1/E1 band from at least two global navigation satellite systems, one of them being Galileo. Supporting both E1 and E5 bands is not compulsory; It is recommended that combination of multiple frequencies from multiple GNSS in order to get the best position accuracy. Many tests made with smartphone chipsets demonstrated the horizontal accuracy requirement in open sky and urban areas could be easily fulfilled just by using a GPS/Galileo dual frequency chipset (L1/E1-L5/E5), without the need of including additional GNSS!... while chipsets using only L1/E1 single signal, will surely need additional GNSS satellites (Glonass, Beidou,…) in order to fulfil the accuracy requirements.
   2. Section 5.3 just requires to demonstrate the technical “readiness” of the smartphone, being able to POTENTIALLY “use/process” OSNMA. The cross-check that the binary stream of the Galileo I/NAV of a given Galileo satellite is correct is made as follows. The binary stream logged by the smartphone shall match that generated by the GNSS simulator for the same satellite and time window observed. The product is not being required to be able to use/process authentication.

Certification Recommendations:

• The new RED applications should include the demonstration of compliance to the Regulation (EU) 2019/320
• The certified products can apply for certificate renewal/re-assessment to include the evaluation of this regulation
• The compliance of tests are also applied for the products which are about to ship to European market after March 17, 2022

Links to the original Regulations:

• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/320
• Guidelines for compliance with delegated regulation (EU) 2019/320