Geolocation technologies and applications for third generation wireless

Abstract

AbstractWireless Service Providers have become increasingly interested in developing position location services for commercial application of the evolving Third Generation (3G) communication systems. The initial and driving force behind this interest is a regulation in the United States promulgated by the Federal Communications Commission, requiring wireless carriers to be capable of delivering the position of a wireless device (or mobile station) making an emergency call to emergency authorities by October 2001. Similarly in Europe, the 1999 Communications Review (COM 1999/539) set the date of 1 January 2003 for the carriers to make location information available for emergency authorities. The cellular mobile station geolocation problem can be solved using either network‐based methods or handset‐based methods. A hybrid position location method that combines measurements from the communication system's forward and/or reverse links with measurements from the Global Positioning System (GPS) can improve position service availability. Given the ability to accurately determine a user's location means that position location service applications can and most certainly will provide value‐added features such as navigation, fleet management, real‐time traffic updates, location sensitive billing, etc. In this paper we present different geolocation technologies, list some of the important applications, and review the status of the location services in the 3G Standards Development Organizations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.