Rohde & Schwarz to fulfil requirements of emergency caller location

To ensure this feature, the devices must be compliant with several positioning systems as outlined by the European Commission. Rohde & Schwarz has announced an extension to its R&S TS-LBS location based services test system, making it the first test solution available to perform the necessary LBS compliance tests. Certification service provider CETECOM has already started first E112 testing using these test sequences.

First E112 emergency caller location tests available on the R&S TS-LBS test system.

All smartphones sold in the European Union have to be compliant as of March 17, 2022, with the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/320. A supplement to the Radio Equipment Directive (RED) 2014/53/EU, it defines that 112 emergency calls provide caller location information to emergency services in a fast and accurate way, to make sure first responders can arrive at the site of an accident quickly.

Instead of a harmonised standard, a guideline document from the European Commission recommends the testing procedures for Notified Bodies, who support the smartphone vendors in the conformance assessment procedure. Compliance with Galileo, Advanced Mobile Location (AML) and Wi-Fi positioning will be mandatory.

Rohde & Schwarz has developed a software based extension to its well established R&S TS-LBS location based services test system, making it a tailored solution in line with the European Commission’s guideline document and the upcoming ETSI standard TS 103 825 for AML protocol testing. Rohde & Schwarz also collaborates with Notified Bodies and test houses to speed up the availability of the test solution. Among those is the leading test house CETECOM, which has already announced E112 testing services.

In the Rohde & Schwarz solution, the cellular network is emulated by the R&S CMW500 wideband radio communication tester, while the dual-frequency E1+E5 GNSS signal for Galileo system is generated by an R&S SMBV100A vector signal generator. Thanks to the automation software of the test setup, all the test cases described in the EC guideline can be executed automatically to ensure unified, fast and repeatable results.

Alexander Pabst, Vice President Market Segment Wireless Communications at Rohde & Schwarz, said: "We at Rohde & Schwarz have been quick to respond to the new E112 conformance requirements by the European Commission due to our pursuit for a safer and connected world. Successful team work with our trusted partners like CETECOM will support all smartphone vendors to show RED compliance and secure their market access within the EU."

Jens Passe, Managing Director at CETECOM, concluded: "We appreciate this opportunity to leverage the T&M knowledge of Rohde & Schwarz. Having the E112 caller location test solution available early on is a significant step for us. CETECOM is therefore already able to support our customers to test and certify their smartphones with E112 functionality."