HeERO Newsletter - Issue 2

February 2013

 .

Introduction

At European level, the HeERO project is preparing, coordinating and carrying-out pre-deployment pilot projects of the EU-wide eCall (based on the common European emergency number 112). The consortium is currently testing and validating in real conditions the common European eCall standards defined and approved by the European Standardisation Bodies.

HeERO participating countries
HeERO participating countries

Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Romania and Sweden are committed to the same high-level objective: developing the local 112 eCall infrastructure needed in order to provide sustainable eCall service for European citizens and share their experiences with the other EU Members and Associated States. On 1st January 2013, 6 other countries will join the 9 current pilot sites.

The project is partially funded by the European Union under the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme.

 .

Table of content

  • Launch of HeERO 2 project
  • Preliminary recommendations to implement eCall
  • HeERO Standards Task force
  • eCall interoperability
  • Cooperation with ERA GLONASS
  • The first HeERO international conference
  • eCall Japan
  • HeERO project's deliverables
  • Events
  • Glossary
 .

Launch of HeERO 2 project

 .

HeERO 2, like HeERO phase 1, addresses the pan-European in-vehicle emergency call service "eCall" based on 112, the common European Emergency number. The project started on 1st January 2013 and will last 2 years. HeERO 2 will add 6 new countries, namely Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey to the 9 countries participating in HeERO 1. Furthermore, 5 additional countries that wished to become HeERO partners, but had not succeeded, became associate partners, a status allowing them to benefit from the expertise of HeERO 1 and 2 but not granting them access to EC funding.  These countries are Cyprus, Iceland, Israel, Hungary and Slovenia.  There are a number of other countries considering whether to become Associate Pilot Sites.

Further information about the 6 new pilot sites:

Belgium intends to set-up and test the required infrastructure to support pan-European eCall, as basis of the infrastructure that will go live in 2015.
Bulgaria will implement and integrate the eCall service into the existing 112 system and will test and validate the whole eCall chain from vehicle to PSAP's and further to the dispatcher's centres of first responders, handling emergency cases.
In Denmark, the 112-infrastructure consists of 3 PSAPs, 2 operated by the Danish National Police and one operated by the municipality of Copenhagen. 112-calls are routed directly from the caller to the PSAP with no filtering or intermediate numbers involved. The plan is to update all three PSAP's in order to achieve eCall capability for the entire country.
Luxembourg intends to integrate the pan-European eCall into the existing 112 service and to make any necessary changes to the mobile networks to support the eCall flag. In addition, eCall will be enhanced with information from the dangerous goods tracking service (following standard interfaces) and cross-border testing will be carried out.
Spain will implement and integrate eCall service into the existing E112 system via a discriminatory intermediate PSAP and will integrate and test a solution for the eCall system addressed to P2W. eCall handling between cross-border regions in Spain will also be assessed.
Turkey intends to integrate the eCall system into the existing 112 PSAP in Antalya. The existing PSAP and the planned eCall PSAP will operate separately. Couples with this Turkey has a program to roll out 112 and eCall across the remaining counties in Turkey in the coming years.

HeERO Pilot Sites
HeERO Pilot Sites
 .
 .

Preliminary recommendations to implement eCall

 .

The first International HeERO Conference on eCall, which took place on the 15th November 2012 hosted by the Croatian Pilot Site, offered an exclusive insight on the preliminary recommendations for implementation of eCall at European level. You will find below the first recommendations made by the HeERO consortium.

 .
 .
 .
 .
 .
 .
 .
 .
 .

HeERO Standards Task force

 .

The HeERO Standardisation Task Force was formed in October 2011, with the aim to coordinate the refinement of the eCall published standards.  The task force which has subject matter experts from both inside and outside of the consortium, meet on a regular basis to review the results of the tests carried, and to consider if refinements to the published standards.  As a result of the work of the task force a comprehensive list of refinements has now been collated and forwarded to CEN278 WG15 for consideration.  The task force is also considering the roll of certification in respect of eCall, and this work has just started and will be continued through HeERO 2.  One of the major events organised through 2012 was the first eCall plug test which were organised in conjunction with ETSI and staged at the innovITS Advance testing facility in the UK.

For more information on the Standardisation TF, please contact François Fischer ().

 .
 .

eCall interoperability

 .

The ability for eCall to be interoperable is of prime concern to the project.  eCall must be able to function seamlessly anywhere.  The published standards have gone a long way in ensuring that eCall is inter-operable, however the potential for interoperability issues has been confirmed by pilot sites and industry trial results, even when technical implementations follow the released standards.  Communicating systems need to be tested to ensure their interoperability, so that any manufactured in-vehicle system (IVS) must be able to communicate with any manufactured public safety answering point (PSAP).

For this reason the HeERO standardisation task force held an open interoperability event from the 21st to 25th May 2012, to address the interoperability issues. You will find below a presentation on those tests.

 .
 .

For more information on the eCall interoperability tests, please contact François Fischer ()

 .
 .

Cooperation with ERA GLONASS

 .

Following almost two years of work undertaken by the eCall/ERA GLONASS Working Group on the alignment of standards, technical requirements and the implementation timeframe of eCall and ERA GLONASS, 2013 will see closer ties forming between the HeERO project and GLONASS Union, the non-profit organisation which holds the mandate to implement ERA GLONASS across the Russian Federation.

GLONASS Union is an associate partner of HeERO 2, and is currently planning to hold its first round of pilot testing within the country in early 2013, with a view to the full launch of the system in January 2015. The interoperability of the eCall and its Russian counterpart is a key goal of this cooperation, and so the cross-border interoperability tests which began in Finland in 2012 will continue with the Finnish IVS to be tested in Russia, as well as more testing with other HeERO Member States in the pipeline for this year.

GLONASS Union is also examining potential additional features to be added on top of the basic ERA GLONASS system, which means that there is plenty of scope for further, mutually-beneficial collaboration throughout 2013 and beyond.

 .
 .

The first HeERO international conference

 .

The first International HeERO Conference on eCall offered an exclusive insight on the intermediate results of the HeERO (Harmonised eCall European Pilot) project, the outcomes of the interoperability testing in nine countries and recommendations for implementing eCall at European level.

The 200 participants from emergency services, European and national public authorities, mobile network operators and industry representatives also witnessed a live eCall demonstration in Croatia via a videoconference. The demo tested the way an eCall by various manufacturers from the Czech Republic, Italy, Romania, Sweden and Croatia can be activated and received by the local 112 system based in Zagreb and operated by the National Protection and Rescue Directorate.

The first International HeERO Conference on eCall was organised by the National Protection and Rescue Directorate (NPRD) of Croatia, ERTICO - ITS Europe and the European Emergency Number Association (EENA).

 .
 .

eCall Japan

Following extensive work, by ERTICO ITS - Europe partner Gemelto led by Mr Marcel Visser and the Project Coordinator, an eCall day was staged at the Yokosuka Research Park in Japan, following the introduction of compatible technology from the innovITS Advance research facility in the UK.  The eCall day was attended by 210 technical experts from all over Japan from a wide range of disciplines but all concerned with the production of eCall for the automotive market.

 .
 .

HeERO project's deliverables

 .
 .

Events

 .

2012 main events

 .
 .
 .
 .
 .
 .

2013 proposed events

 .

Connected Car Conference, 25-26 June - Amsterdam, the Netherlands

FIA Conference, 13 September - Den Haag, the Netherlands

eCall Days, October - Berlin, Germany

eCall Days, October - Yokosuka, Japan

ITS World Congress, October - Tokyo, Japan

2nd HeERO international conference, November - Bucharest, Romania

 .
 .

Glossary

 .
  • ERA-GLONASS: Russian automated emergency response system, similar to eCall
  • EUCARIS: EUropean CAR and driving license Information System
  • GIS: Geographic Information System
  • HeERO: Harmonised ecall EuROpean pilot
  • HGV: Heavy Goods Vehicle
  • IVS: In-Vehicle System
  • KPI: Key Performance Indicator
  • MSD: Minimum Set of Data
  • PSAP: Public Safety Answering Point
  • TMC: Traffic Management Center
  • VIN: Vehicle Identification Number
 .
 .

Any question?

 .

Project coordinator
Andy Rooke
ERTICO

+32 2 400 07 80

 .

Dissemination Manager
Jerome Paris
EENA

+32 2 644 06 08

 .

Would you like to receive regular news about the HeERO project?

 .
 .
 .

Disclaimer
Possible inaccuracies of information are under the responsibility of the project team. The text reflects solely the views of its authors. The European Commission is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

 .

If you want to unsubscribe from the HeERO newsletter, please send "Unsubscribe" to

 .