Title: Using the ellipse propagation model for mobile location estimation

Authors: Junyang Zhou, Kenneth Man-Kin Chu, Joseph Kee-Yin Ng

Addresses: Department of Computer Science, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China. ' Department of Computer Science, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China. ' Department of Computer Science, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China

Abstract: Mobile location estimation or mobile positioning is becoming an important service for a mobile phone network. Among different kinds of mobile location estimation technologies, only the class of the signal strength based algorithm which estimates the location of Mobile Stations (MSs) by the Received Signal Strength (RSS) can be applied to different kinds of radio cellular networks, and therefore, is more general. We have designed a directional propagation model – the Ellipse Propagation Model (EPM), which makes use of a common signal propagation model to perform a location estimation. EPM enhanced the traditional propagation model by resembling the contour line of the signal strength as an ellipse rather than a circle and hence becoming more realistic. We have tested EPM with real data taken in Hong Kong and it is proven that EPM outperforms other existing location estimation algorithms among different kinds of terrains.

Keywords: GSM networks; mobile location estimation; RSS; received signal strength; EPM; ellipse propagation models; geometric algorithms; mobile positioning; mobile phones; cell phones; radio cellular networks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWMC.2010.033058

International Journal of Wireless and Mobile Computing, 2010 Vol.4 No.2, pp.116 - 125

Published online: 07 May 2010 *

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