APCO will do independent testing of wireless location data delive...

in Times of Emergency) received a $750,000 Public Safety Foundation of America grant. Project LOCATE will guide and support PSAPs deploying or considering deploying Phase II E-911 service, APCO said. It will define test areas across the U.S. based on “unique combinations of real world variables,” using independent firms to perform accuracy testing using OET-71 criteria, the group said. Project LOCATE also will engage designated PSAPs to participate in testing, review test results and help resolve issues between PSAPs and wireless service providers, APCO said. APCO has been a strong advocate of applying wireless 911 accuracy requirements at a local community level, not at a state level as the wireless industry urges. It dissented in March, when the 49-member Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NRIC) urged statewide accuracy testing. Last year, APCO filed a petition, later backed by other public safety groups, seeking an FCC ruling to require the specified level of accuracy for locating wireless 911 calls at a local level, rather than averaged over an entire state. At the time, FCC Chmn. Martin’s aide, Sam Feder, said Martin had “some sympathy for APCO’s view that you need to look at this on a more granular basis.” Feder urged wireless carriers to work with APCO on “a solution about how that can be done.”