Skip to main content

UK test centre ready to evaluate eCall product performance

InnovITS Advance, the UK research and development centre for telecommunications, automotive and electronics industries, has carried out a demonstration of capability in the area of eCall testing and certification.
March 26, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSS67 innovITS Advance, the UK research and development centre for telecommunications, automotive and electronics industries, has carried out a demonstration of capability in the area of eCall testing and certification. With its independent and fully controllable private GSM network and Skyclone GNSS denial capabilities, InnovITS says it is uniquely placed to provide an environment in which eCall systems can be tested under all conditions of signal quality and attenuation.

To carry out its demonstration of eCall, InnovITS worked together with partners 4306 Denso Corporation, 4308 Cinterion, 491 TRL, 4310 Mira and PMN, to connect the site’s private GSM network to an external eCall Public Service Access Point (PSAP). They are all now planning to work towards implementing a comprehensive eCall test and certification service based at InnovITS Advance, which claims to be one of the first such facilities to offer this service in Europe.

“By successfully demonstrating functionality tests on an eCall equipped vehicle, InnovITS Advance has thus proven its capability to act as a robust and reliable site for the testing and certification of eCall products,” explains the facility’s CEO Phil Pettitt. “The presence of a network of roads covered by a fully controllable private GSM network is fundamental to the ability to provide such a robust testing environment. Over the coming months we will be working with our partners to establish on a permanent basis an eCall test and certification service that can be offered to customers on a commercial basis.”

“eCall is a very promising technology which I believe will have a major role to play in improving emergency service response times in those EU states implementing the system,” added Marcel Visser, global vice president automotive of Cinterion and chairman of the 374 Ertico ITS Europe automotive suppliers sector platform. “By working together in a proactive manner, the technical partners in this self-funded project have demonstrated that the European automotive industry supply chain will be ready to embrace the test and certification needs of eCall using the dedicated ITS test and development facilities such as those of InnovITS Advance.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Highway safety inspection delivers safer roads, cost savings
    January 30, 2012
    Last year, the County of Lancashire, in the north-west of England, repaired a total of 15,000 potholes on its network of roads. In 2010, that number is likely to significantly increase as Lancashire, along with local authorities throughout the UK, deals with the after-effects of a record cold spell in December and January with prolonged snow, ice and sub-zero temperatures.
  • TransCore upgrades Delaware DMV customer service centre
    August 15, 2013
    Delaware is set to become the first US state to combine E-ZPass and Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) call centre services when TransCore completes the upgrade and expansion of the DMV and E-ZPass customer service centres. After a competitive bid process, TransCore was awarded the US$30 million, three-year base term contract with multiple extension options and will install the system in parallel with the existing service centre operations while relocating to a new DMV facility. Project completion is expected
  • Nokia to integrate Navteq in new business unit
    April 19, 2012
    Nokia has announced that Michael Halbherr has been appointed executive vice president to spearhead the company’s revised mission in mobile and location-based services. He will lead a new location and commerce business unit, which will be formed by integrating the Navteq business with Nokia's social location services operations. Nokia says the unit will develop a new class of integrated social location products and services for consumers, as well as platform services and local commerce services for device ma
  • Meeting the challenges of smartcard fare payment
    July 4, 2012
    David Crawford monitors a growing trend in contactless smartcard ticketing The north east United States has become a hive of activity in the smart fare payment arena. In October 2011, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) published, as a preliminary to an imminent procurement process, the detailed concept of its New Fare Payment System (NFPS). Based on open payment industry standards, this is designed to be implemented on all MTA bus and subway services operated by New York City Transit (