The California Fire Chiefs Association strongly supports the FCC’s exploration of complementary and alternative Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) technologies to improve the safety and effectiveness of emergency response. They emphasize that current GPS technology is inadequate in many indoor and urban settings, and that a more resilient and redundant “system of systems” is required to ensure accurate and continuous location services for first responders.
In its filing, the Association outlines seven key priorities for public safety: (1) prioritizing coverage in GPS-challenged areas, particularly indoors and in dense urban environments; (2) integrating PNT solutions into existing public safety devices and infrastructure to reduce disruption and cost; (3) ensuring spectrum efficiency and interference resilience; (4) requiring interoperability with current systems and provision of vertical (z-axis) location data; (5) building infrastructure resilient to natural disasters, technical failures, and attacks such as jamming and spoofing; (6) achieving superior location accuracy and reliability, especially indoors; and (7) encouraging sustainable deployment through public-private partnerships rather than federal funding alone.
The Association expressly supports NextNav’s proposal as a meaningful advancement in public safety technology. They commend its use of 900 MHz spectrum and 5G infrastructure to deliver enhanced horizontal and vertical location capabilities without burdening taxpayers. The filing characterizes NextNav’s system as a foundational improvement for emergency response software and situational awareness tools, urging the Commission to prioritize technologies that directly enhance the safety and operational efficiency of first responders.