ECHoP2P: Emergency call handling over peer-to-peer overlays

The impact of the peer-to-peer paradigm increases both in research and in industry. Still, serious applications for P2F´-based systems are rare. On the other hand, emergency call handling (ECU) is (or will be) a mandatory function for VoIP services. In this paper we investigate international legal and technical requirements of ECU and present ECHoPIP, a solution that fulfills these requirements. Based on Globase.KOM and HiPNOS.KOM, ECHoP2P provides the functionality to determine the closest and (geographically) responsible emergency station to a calling peer. Further, emergency calls are processed with highest priority in the overlay, so that quality of service guarantees are given. We evaluated ECHoPIP thoroughly and present the quality and costs analysis, identified tradeoffs and effects of optimization parameters. ECHoPIP provides a fully evaluated solution for emergency call handling and for further location-aware applications.