Polaris Wireless Deploys 911 Vertical Locater in TCL Phones

Locating a wireless caller within a multi-story building is a complicated task for first responders. The challenges can increase response time or even cause first responders to be unable to locate emergency callers. People who call 911 on their mobile phones must be located with the best possible accuracy, regardless of the phone they are using.

TCL and Polaris Wireless will make that happen with the TCL FLIP Go. Polaris Wireless featured its Z-axis location solution in TCL’s new phone, the second commercial public safety product deployment for Polaris Wireless in the past three months.

With these solution deployments, Polaris Wireless increased its deployed base in the U.S. through shipments of TCL’s flip phones. Manlio Allegra, CEO and founder of Polaris Wireless, said the Z-axis service is available, seamlessly, throughout the U.S. and is scalable for rapid, low-cost deployment worldwide.

First responders, through the Z-axis solution, are able to locate all wireless 911 callers with floor level accuracy in multi-story buildings when indoor and vertical location are added to these devices. With landlines becoming less popular, the majority of 911 calls are placed through mobile phones. This raises the importance of vertical location during an emergency situation because mobile devices aren’t tied to a physical location.

“Integrating the Polaris Wireless software enables our customers to be located vertically in multi-story buildings with high accuracy and high confidence during emergency situations, exceeding the requirements of our wireless carrier partners,” said Eric Anderson, senior vice president and general manager of TCL.

Polaris Wireless, serving E911 location in the U.S. for the past two decades, continues to evolve its technology to include more challenging environments. The vertical location technology, when demonstrated, met the FCC’s 3-meter indoor vertical location accuracy requirements, which U.S. wireless carriers have begun certifying this year.

Edited by Erik Linask