Floor-level positioning accuracy demonstrated for indoor mobile calls

NextNav Results: Vertical accuracy delivered by various phone models using signals from an installed network of NextNav beacons. (Plots: NextNav, from ex parte FCC filing, Aug. 8)

According to NextNav, its altitude service delivered floor-level accuracy in 94 percent of test calls in recent blind industry tests commissioned by the Cellular Telephone Industry Association.

The Stage Z Tests were designed to develop a proposed Z-axis (vertical) metric for indoor wireless 9-1-1 calls, as required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

NextNav’s Metropolitan Beacon System (MBS)-based services enable mobile phones and other devices to reliably determine their location and timing in indoor and urban environments where GPS signals cannot be received, the company said. NextNav’s 3D location services include accurate horizontal positioning, floor-level altitude precision, and context and visualization applications.

Polaris Results: Vertical accuracy (Plots: Next Nav, from ex party FCC filing, Aug. 9)

Delivered over a managed network on the licensed spectrum with carrier-grade dependability and metropolitan-wide coverage, NextNav’s services are designed for public safety applications, E911 and critical infrastructure as well as the multitude of consumer, internet of things and commercial applications that require reliable indoor 3D location or precision timing.

According to NextNav, the Stage Z Tests evaluated the ability of various technologies to accurately locate mobile 911 callers in the vertical dimension in challenging indoor environments spread across an entire metropolitan area. The tests were conducted using popular off-the-shelf iOS and Android devices running a software client provided by NextNav. The tests included more than 70,000 emergency-style calls generating altitude fixes from more than 200 different test locations.

“Our ability to deliver floor-level height accuracy has the potential to speed up emergency response time and save lives,” said Ganesh Pattabiraman, co-founder and CEO of NextNav. “The ability to precisely locate the exact floor is a significant breakthrough for wireless 9-1-1 location technologies.”