Title: Critical analysis and error determination of locating-finding techniques in GSM

Authors: William Johnston Buchanan, Jose Munoz, Kashif Ali Raja

Addresses: School of Computing, Napier University, 10 Colinton Road, Edinburgh EH10 4DJ, UK. ' School of Computing, Napier University, 10 Colinton Road, Edinburgh EH10 4DJ, UK. ' Justfone plc, Newton St. Boswell, UK

Abstract: GPS is a well-established technique for location-finding, but mobile phone-based methods are generally less expensive to implement, and can give reasonable accuracies. These techniques can thus be useful to network operators in providing services based on geographical locations, and also to users. This paper reviews the main handset location techniques used within a GSM network, and critically appraises them. The main techniques covered include Cell-ID, E-CGI, TDOA, AOA, TOA, OTA and Timing Advance (TA). It also outlines a practical experiment in the UK in locating finding, which uses TA signal to locate the handset. The results show how an experiment can be conducted to determine the error in the location measurement.

Keywords: location finding; GPS; Cell-ID; TDOA; AOA; TOA; OTD; timing advance; global positioning system; mobile phones; mobile communications; handset location; GSM network; geographical location; location measurement; location analysis; location errors.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2005.005905

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2005 Vol.3 No.2, pp.165 - 182

Published online: 23 Dec 2004 *

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