In February the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) pushed forward its goal to establish a mandate requiring U.S. wireless operators to provide precise indoor location of calls to 911.
The FCC published a “Third Notice of Proposed Rulemaking“ where it seeked comments from the wireless industry on the following rules:
– Wireless carriers would be required to provide horizontal location (x- and y-axis) information within 50 meters of the caller for 67 percent of 911 calls placed from indoor environments within two years of the effective date of adoption of rules, and for 80 percent of indoor calls within five years.
– They would also be required to provide vertical location (z-axis) information within 3 meters of the caller for 67 percent of indoor 911 calls within three years of the adoption of rules, and for 80 percent of calls within five years. While the horizontal accuracy seems feasible, the vertical accuracy (floor discrimination) seems a bit of a challenge for network-based location technologies. 
