Airbiquity Technology Helps eCall Pass Key Assessment On Road to European Adoption

BERLIN--Airbiquity Inc., a company that develops wireless in-band modem software solutions for automobile manufacturers and suppliers, today announced its involvement in the successful pan-European eCall Feasibility Trial. The trial was conducted by ADAC, Europe’s largest automobile club with over 16 million members, to demonstrate how eCall can be realized and play a role in saving thousands of lives.

The objective of the trial was to assess the recommended pan-European eCall implementation, and focused on challenging network conditions such as cross-border environments and areas with poor cellular coverage. Partners in the trial included Adam Opel, T-Mobile Deutschland, Continental Automotive Systems GmbH (Neubiberg), Automobile Club d’Italia (ACI Global Spa, Milan), and the Österreichischer Automobil-, Motorrad-und Touring Club (ÖAMTC, Austria). The results of the trial concluded that an eCall system using Airbiquity’s technology exceeded the performance requirements recommended by the eCall Driving Group.

Airbiquity’s technology was a key component in the success of the trial, where their aqLink in-band modem and aqServers were used to transmit and disseminate vital GPS and emergency data from Opel test vehicles in various locations throughout Austria, Germany and Italy.

“Airbiquity has a long-standing history of deploying safety applications, and has already played a key role in saving thousands of lives in the United States with our deployment in over six million vehicles,” said Kamyar Moinzadeh, president and CEO, Airbiquity. “The results of this trial further prove that our in-band modem works as expected in other parts of the world, including Europe. We are very pleased with the results of the trial, and we’re happy to play a part in the realization of pan-European eCall.”

Europe’s eCall initiative proposes the use of GSM or UMTS mobile networks to contact emergency services automatically when the airbag is deployed, or when summoned via special eCall buttons built into a vehicle’s cockpit area. Once activated, emergency responders are able to secure voice communication with accident victims through the mobile network and can automatically obtain the location of distressed vehicles via GPS satellite location technology.

As a result of the positive outcome of the trial, the German and Austrian governments signed the eCall Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in favor of adopting the eCall initiative into all new automobiles by 2010. Additional members of the European Union are expected to sign the MoU in the coming months.

The eCall MoU requires that a minimum set of incident data (MSD) be sent to the eCall operator answering the emergency call. In April 2006, GSM Europe (GSME) released a position paper entitled GSME Position: Options for eCall MSD Signalling in which they named in-band modem technology as the preferred eCall MSD signalling system.

Airbiquity’s aqLink in-band modem facilitates connections between vehicles and emergency service providers using over-the-air data transmission via either an embedded system or a Bluetooth hands free system, and works over UMTS, GSM, and CDMA mobile networks. For this trial, the company’s aqServers were in use at ARC call centers in Germany, Austria and Italy, collecting and distributing critical location and incident information to regional response teams, ensuring fast and reliable emergency service deployment. Airbiquity’s unique approach to data transmission makes it possible to transmit both GPS location data and emergency information over conventional cellular phone channels, radically cutting down on the time and resources needed to respond to roadside emergencies.

For more information about eCall, please visit http://esafetysupport.org/. For more information on the results of the ADAC eCall trial, please visit www.airbiquity.com/eCallTrial.