Survey of Wireless Geolocation Techniques: A. Roxin, J. Gaber, M. Wack, A. Nait-Sidi-Moh
Survey of Wireless Geolocation Techniques: A. Roxin, J. Gaber, M. Wack, A. Nait-Sidi-Moh
Survey of Wireless Geolocation Techniques: A. Roxin, J. Gaber, M. Wack, A. Nait-Sidi-Moh
The positioning algorithm that computes the metrics In this section, algorithms used by non-dedicated
reported by the location sensing device, in order to localization techniques are described. To ease the
estimate the position of the mobile device, understanding, first are reviewed fundamental principles
employed by these techniques. Then an introduction to recent
The display system, which displays the computed position
researches will be made.
of the mobile device.
A. Principles
Figure 2b. Locating the mobile device by performing a TDOA. These two categories will be presented in the rest of this
section.
c) Smallest polygon
Reference tags - Reference tags are the active RFID tags Cell Identification (CID) is the process of using network's
used for calibrating environmental parameters. knowledge of the mobile device, within the controlling cell
site and communicating the sector information. The
Tracking tags - RFID tags associated to tracked objects. geographical centre of this area provides a rough estimate of
In order to estimate the distance between a transmitter (i.e., the location of the caller (Figure 12).
tagged object or reference tag) and a receiver (i.e., RFID CID operates in GSM, GPRS and UMTS networks. It
reader), several methods exist, going from Euclidean distance requires the network to identify the BTS to which the cell
calculus to probabilistic models using log-distance path loss phone is communicating and the location of that BTS.
models.
The accuracy of this method depends on the cell size, and
In [7] Yun et al. present a triangulation technique that uses can be very poor in many cases (the GSM cell diameter is
regression. Starting from RFID signals and pre-computed between 2 Km to 20 Km).
regression equations, the estimated distances from the tracking
tag to the RFID readers, l1, l2 and l3, are obtained. The
estimated distances from the regressive equations of three
readers allow computing the estimated location (u, v) of the
tag.
Figure 13. Illustration of positioning via the triangulation of three Figure 15. Angle Of Arrival
RSS measurements from nodes A, B and C.
B. MS-based methods
7) Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA)
OTDOA operates only on UMTS networks. The OTDOA 1) Global Positioning System (GPS)
LS estimates the position of a mobile device by referencing Largely considered the most accurate location technology,
signal reception time at the MS/UE from a minimum of 3 GPS uses satellites to fix the position of a mobile unit. The
Node B stations. The mobile’s position is at the intersection of mobile unit needs special hardware and software for receiving
at least two hyperbolas defined by the OTDAs of the UMTS GPS signals [24].
frames from multiple Node B stations, as shown in Figure 17.
The GPS has 3 parts:
The space segment, which consists of 24 satellites.
The user segment, which consists of receivers.
The control segment, which consists of monitor stations
that make sure the satellites are working properly.
Satellites are equipped with very precise clocks that keep
accurate time to within 3 ns (nanoseconds). Precision timing is
important because the receiver must determine exactly how
long it takes for signals to travel from each GPS satellite.
The added cost of components in the handset has made this
a less desirable option in the past, but prices are coming down
to make it more attractive for lower-end handsets. GPS also
suffers from a relatively long delay (sometimes more than a
Figure 17. OTDOA technique minute) to get an initial fix on the location of a mobile unit.
2) Assisted GPS (A-GPS)
8) U-TDOA (Uplink Time Difference of Arrival)
A-GPS systems are set up to resolve the long delay that
U-TDOA is a positioning method developed by
can occur in locating a mobile unit when using GPS. Data
TruePosition [22], and which relies upon multi-lateration. As
about the mobile unit is transmitted through the network of
it is completely network-based, no additional chip or software
BSs to speed up the location process, bringing it down to only
needs to be installed into the mobile device.
a few seconds. This occurs when obstructions block the view
U-TDOA determines a mobile phone's location by from a handset to a GPS satellite [23].
comparing the times at which a cell signal reached the LMUs
Wireless A-GPS operates on GSM, GPRS and UMTS provide location information, and this information must be
networks. Like GPS, A-GPS uses satellites in space as updated constantly [22].
reference points to determine location.
A-GPS can be accurate up to 10 meters.
A-GPS provides better accuracy than CID, E-OTD or
OTDOA, and operates on asynchronous or synchronous
networks without the need for LMUs (although LMU
information can be used if it is available) [21].
Figure 19. A-GPS Principle The message traffic is much greater than that used for A-
GPS or CID. E-OTD uses more network bandwidth than all
An A-GPS implementation has almost negligible impact other technologies. This technology is vulnerable to accuracy
on the infrastructure and can easily support roaming, but degradation from multipath and signal reflections.
requires A-GPS circuitry inside the phone, so legacy handsets
cannot be supported without modification. A-GPS requires V. CONCLUSION
message exchanges with an A-GPS LS in the infrastructure,
but this is handled in a flexible manner and exchanged Each of the above described methods has its own
messages are small-sized [24]. advantages and inconvenients. Due to their high resolution
capacity in the time domain, time-based positioning
3) Enhanced – Observed Time Difference (E-OTD) algorithms are usually preferred to those involving AOA or
RSS measurements. Although these algorithms enable very
This technology has been deployed by Cambridge Position
accurate positioning, they also poses some challenges for
Systems. E-OTD operates only on GSM and GPRS networks.
practical systems (require installation of dedicated hardware).
The cell phone sends a signal to the surrounding cell
The reference point method may provide more accurate
emitters, and the nearest one sends back the signal. The time
positions, without dealing with the above mentioned
taken between sending and receiving the wave is analyzed by
challenges. Moreover, if RSS is taken as a major parameter to
an external server, which calculates the cell phone position in
estimate the position of a mobile device, the localization will
the network
(www.mobileinfo.com/LocationBasedServices/E_OTD.htm). be easy to design, as most adapters provide RSS measurement.
GSM - Global System for Mobile Communications - Standard for digital TA - Timing Advance - A technique utilizing the timing advance information
mobile telephony originally developed for pan-European use, but now used applied by the GSM network to determine the approximate distance an MS is
worldwide. from a base station.
IPDL - Idle Period Down Link - A signalling method used with OTDOA TU - Timing Unit - A timing unit required for networks that are not
positioning technology to mitigate the near far problem inherent to UMTS synchronized. Typically uses special GPS receivers to provide absolute
systems. timing.
IR – InfraRed - Infrared radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a TOA - Time of Arrival - A technique comparing the time an MS signal
wavelength longer than that of visible light, but shorter than that of radio arrives at different base stations to determine two-dimensional position
waves. The name means "below red" (from the Latin “infra”, “below”), red (altitude not determined).
being the colour of visible light with the longest wavelength. Trilateration - A technique used to derive location by determining the
LMU - Location Measurement Unit - A device used with E-OTD to provide intersection of hyperbolas derived from the range measurements between a
precise timing information for asynchronous networks. BTS and handset.
LS - Location Server - The software entity used to calculate position or to TTFF - Time to First Fix - The time elapsed between when a position was
provide assistance data or to participate in the positioning process in some requested and when a position was determined. Most commonly applied to
other way. Different location technologies require different location server GPS and A-GPS technologies, but also applicable for other location
functionality. In report, the LS term will be preceded by a location technology technologies.
description to indicate the LS supports that type of location technology (e.g., UE - User Equipment - The term used in UMTS networks to describe a
an A-GPS LS is a location server that supports A-GPS technology and subscriber’s handset or wireless terminal.
therefore provides assistance data and can calculate a final position).
UMTS - Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems - UMTS is the
MS - Mobile Station - The term used in GSM and GPRS networks to third generation (3G) evolution from 2G/2.5G networks and since it is based
describe a subscriber’s handset or wireless terminal. on wideband CDMA radio access technology (WCDMA), it is generally
MS-Assisted - Term typically used in wireless assisted GPS implementations. considered synonymous with WCDMA.
A mode of operation in which the MS provides data to the location server to WCDMA - Wideband CDMA - IMT-2000 CDMA direct spread standard
enable the location server to calculated a position. developed by 3GPP.
MS-Based - Term typically used in wireless assisted GPS implementations. A WLAN – Wireless Local Area Network – A WLAN is a wireless local area
mode of operation in which the MS receives aiding data from the location network, which is the linking of two or more computers without using wires.
server to enable the MS to calculate a position.
Yield - The ratio of the number of successfully calculated positions (meeting
MSC - Mobile Switching Center - A primary switching hub in 2G, 2.5G and specified quality criteria) to the number of attempts to determine a position. A
3G wireless network. yield of 100 percent means all position attempts resulted in a position
Multipath fingerprint - A location technology that uses a complex database calculation within the boundaries of the specified quality criteria. 50 percent
of stored communication signal images, or “fingerprints” that are each unique yield means only one of every two attempts resulted in a position calculation.
to locations throughout the user network. Real-time handset signals are then
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