A Critical Review of Position Fixing Techniques for
Mobile Communications
B. Prabhakar1, S. Balaji1, K.V.Murali Mohan2, D.Krishna Reddy3
1
Dept. of ECM, KL University, Vijayawada
2
Dept. of ECE, HITS, Hyderabad
3
Dept. of ECE, Chaithanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, A.P., India.
1
bprabhakar2008@gmail.com
3
dkreddi@rediffmail.com
Abstract —Mobile Station (MS) positioning plays vital
role in Location Based Services (LBS) of 3G
communications. Accurate MS positioning leads to exact
relevance to the services provided by LBS. For position
fixing of MS, no single technique is superior, different
techniques are used in different environments and for
different services. This paper reviews various mobile
positioning techniques.
Keywords: LBS, Mobile positioning, and RSS
I. INTRODUCTION
The wireless mobile market is witnessing unprecedented
growth fueled by technology revolution. The mobile network
field is moving towards to integrate both voice and position
data services. LBS is one such integrate service which brings
great convenience and new allied services to subscribers and
gained popularity because of its commercial potential. The
mandatory requirement of E-911 of FCC, U.S. has prompted
the growth of LBS. Due to complexity of mobile environment,
positioning MS accurately is a challenge. In present highly
competitive scenario, invariably the success, accuracy and
economics of a LBS is dependent on the type of position
finding techniques used. Positioning techniques are classified
based on the role played by MS and BS in determining the
location and also parameters used to find the position. These
techniques should be highly reliable, accurate and fast. The
various positioning methods used in major cellular systems are
critically discussed in this paper.
II. NEED OF MS POSITION
Location of the mobile user is fundamental to LBS. In the
age of significant mobile communication competition,
operators seek new ways to create special features and
increase profits. One of the best way to deliver highly
personalized services based on location. LBS delivers
geographical information surrounding the MS for the variety
of user needs such as delivery of spatial data for routing
guidance (Kolodziej and Hjelm, 2006). MS position is not
only useful for LBS but also for other services as shown (Fig.
1). Services like E-911 in U.S, E-108/E-104 in India, E-110 in
Japan and E-112 in Europe are enabled for both landline and
mobile users. Enhanced 911, a location technology advanced
by the FCC that enables cellular phones to process 911 calls
and enable emergency services to locate geographic location
of the caller. The accuracy required to E-911 services for
terminal/network based mobile positioning techniques is
shown in Table 1. Mobility management is an important sub
layer in signaling layer of GSM network. It looks after the
location updating and handoff mechanism. Handoff comes
into the picture when user crossing the cell boundary during a
call. The MS location information can also be used for
distribution of radio resources dynamically to improve
coverage and capacity of the cellular systems (Yamamoto et
al., 2001). It also helps in reducing co-channel interference,
enhances frequency reuse and avoids unnecessary handoffs
(Rappaport et al., 1996). In the context of security, location
reporting and its mapping is essential in providing a defense
against emerging national threats as well as handling
conventional emergencies. Positioning systems will offer
greater crime-fighting capabilities for law enforcement
personnel. Remote MS positioning is useful in vehicle
tracking, which is being exploited in fleet management. LBS
become an integral component in Automatic Fleet
Management Systems (AFMS), Intelligent Transposition
System (ITS) and Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) by
providing remote tracking facilities and offers turn-by-turn
driving directions. An interesting ITS application is electronic
road pricing (ERP) which exist in Germany.
III. POSITIONING METHODS IN MOBILE SYSTEMS
Based on where position calculation is conducted, MS
positioning techniques are categorized (Sarikaya, 2002) as,
network based technique, handset based technique or hybrid
technique. In network based technique the parameters used for
computing location are measured at Base Station (BS) and
transferred to a central facility for location determination
(James et.al, 1998). Handset based technique requires handset
modifications such as installation of GPS chipset in the MS.
Hybrid techniques are the combination of network based and
handset based techniques. Positioning methods implemented
in major cellular systems are tabled (Table 2). All these
methods are based on triangulation or trilateration techniques.
The data required to find MS location are angle of arrival of
the signal, transit time of the signal from BS to MS and
received signal strength or combination of these.
(I) CELL OF ORIGIN (COO) METHOD
It is simple and cheapest method to find MS position (Fig. 2).
When MS is in soft handover, radio network controller (RNC)
decides appropriate cell id based on handoff history and signal
strength (Jay, 2004). Cell id is stored in network and MS. The
error may be as large as network cell size radius R (Jagoe,
2003). To improve accuracy, measuring signal Round Trip
Time (RTT) is utilized (Jay, 2004). Even though it is not that
much accurate, this technique is widely used because of its
simplicity and supports legacy terminals.
(II) CELL OF ORIGIN WITH TIMING ADVANCE
In TDMA systems (GSM), the known transit time of the
signal is exploited for location estimation. Timing Advance
(TA) is an estimate of the distance from the MS to the serving
BTS (Fig. 3). TA is a 6-bit information (total 0-63 time slots
correspond to 0-233  s) each with a radius of 550m
(resolution is one GSM bit, which has the duration of
  3.69  sec round trip from BS to MS and back,
c
 550m , c velocity of light) (35km/63 = 550m) (Hjelm,
2 multipath even when there is an LOS path (Ibnkahla, 2005).
2003). TDMA cells know the time it takes for its signals to
reach a mobile station. When no TA is available means 0 slot
and last slot 63 indicates maximum TA. For example, if TA is
0, it means that MS is at a distance of 0 to 550 m from BS
(Mattsson, 2001). TA value is obtained on Random Access
CHannel (RACH). In practice, the resolution of the TA may
be further degraded by multipath fading.
III) TIME OF ARRIVAL (TOA) METHOD
The simplest way for positioning in GSM is ToA method
based on handover measurements at BSs (Al-Jazzar et al.,
2002). For estimating RTT, a known signal (bursts) is sent to
MS and received back by BS. Location Measurement Unit
(LMU) measures time for signal to travel to MS and back to
BS. When the BS receives the signals carrying time stamps
from the MS it records time when it was received and sends it
to a central server. The server gathers information from
multiple BSs and by comparing the time of arrivals and the
BSs positions, calculates the position of the MS by
triangulation (Fig. 4). The intersection of two spheres is the
circle, upon which the MS may be located. The accuracy of
this method varies according to the accurate positioning of
surrounding BSs locations, propagation of signals and
synchronization of the clocks. Accuracy of is less and works
with legacy terminals MS (Tayal, 2005). For synchronization,
each BS has to be equipped with GPS timing receiver.
IV) ANGLE OF ARRIVAL (AOA) METHOD
The direction finding systems estimate position by measuring
angle at which the signal arrives at the BS. A line drawn from
BS to MS is called as line of bearing (LoB) and is also known
as radial line from BS to the MS. Intersection of two LoBs
drawn from two different BSs defines a unique position of MS
(Fig. 5). This technique requires no time synchronization and
needs only two BSs. The difficulties in this method are
estimation of angles which require complex antenna system
such as installation of directional antennas or phased array
antennas at BSs. This also suffers from Non Line of Sight
(NLoS) propagation.
V) TIME DIFFERENCE OF ARRIVAL (TDOA)
ToA method generally fails to give required accuracy due to
inaccurate estimation of time of arrival in mobile
environment. TDoA technique avoids this difficulty, by
measuring relative time difference instead of estimating the
absolute time of the signal to reach MS from BS. TDoA is
most commonly used network-based solution. It computes the
MS location by measuring the difference between the arrival
times of MS transmissions at individual BSs. LMU at BS
notes the time when signal from MS arrived at BS 1 and BS2
(Mattsson, 2001). This difference of time is called TDoA
value. This TDoA is converted into distance difference
between two BSs as foci to define a hyperboloid. Each TDoA
measurement gives hyperboloid along which mobile may lie.
The accuracy is affected by co-channel interference and
For this method minimum of three BSs are needed to get two
TDoA-measurements. The intersection of two hyperbolas
pinpoint the MS position (Fig. 6). TDoA is a very precise
method, but requires BSs are to be in LOS with MS. For
ensuring time synchronization, each BS have to be equipped
with GPS timing receiver. Moreover, the exact morphology of
the area has to be known. The equation of such hyperboloid is
written as (Krishna, 2002),
 
R 2 i , j  ( X i  x) 2  (Yi  y ) 2  ( Z i  z ) 2 
( X 
where
j  x) 2  (Y j  y ) 2  ( Z j  z ) 2 (1)
(Xi, Yi, Z i) and (Xj, Yj, Zj) represent the coordinates of the i th
and jth BSs. (x,y,z) is MS location and Ri,j is distance equilent
of TDoA. The modified handset TDoA method proposed for
the CDMA system utilizes the pilot tones transmitted by
different BSs (Reza, 2000).
VI) EOTD METHOD
It is based on BCCH timing measurements from different
cells at target MS in GSM (Drane et al., 1998). MS calculates
difference between arrival times of signals from two different
BSs called Observed Time Difference (OTD). This OTD is
constant to two BSs and gives a hyperbola. This means that
two pairs of BSs (at least three BSs) are required for defining
unique position. Time difference of arrivals is given as (James
et al., 1998)
  di , j  Ri  R j 
Tdij    (2)
 c  expensive upgrades. Hence, RSS based methods are simple
Where d i,j is the two BSs separation distance, R i, Rj are the
distances of MS to ith and jth BSs and c is the velocity of light.
Resolution at which OTD measurements are reported is only
554m and the required synchronisation of the BSs is not
guaranteed. In EOTD, as the transmission frames from BSs
are not synchronized in GSM network, real time difference
(RTD), that is the difference between transmitted times of BSs
is needed. Geometric time difference (GTD), difference of
OTD and RTD, also gives hyperbola for positioning (Fig. 7)
(Mattsson, 2001). OTD measurements are sent via SMS to
LMU which performs the location calculations. LMU is at
known distance from all BSs and calculates RTD. This
method is less expensive than Disadvantage of this method is
that EOTD software is required both at LMU and MS. If the
propagation distance between BS 1 and MS is d1 and
propagation distance between BS 2 and the MS is d2, GTD is
calculated as
GTD12 = (d2- d1)/c, (3)
where c is the light velocity. Response time (approximately
5s) depending on the network latency.
VII) ASSISTED GPS (A-GPS) METHOD
A-GPS technique uses both GPS satellites and mobile
network infrastructure to provide a reliable positional
accuracy (50m for indoor and 15m for outdoor) (Darnell and
Wilczoch, 2002). GPS receiver technology is matured enough
to integrate with GSM technology for A-GPS method. This
method requires both software and hardware modifications at
MS and network. Basic idea is to establish a GPS reference
network, whose receivers have clear view of sky and operate
continuously. This reference network (location server) is
connected to cellular network and continuously monitors GPS
constellation status. Location server and handset interact each
other for positional information exchange. It saves lot of time
and battery life. On request from MS, data from GPS
reference network is transmitted to GPS receiver chipset
embedded in MS through cellular network (Fig. 8). This
embedded receiver gets signals from available satellites and
pseudorange measurements are given to position
determination entity (PDE) of MS. The major limitation of
this technique is that up gradation of network in the form of
GPS reference network, additional location determination
units and modification of MS is necessary (Johan, 2002).
IX) MOBILE POSITIONING WITH RSS
The range based model basically used the channel
characteristics to find the propagation distance. The range free
localization technique does not use the channel model for
location calculation. Range based scheme is further classified
according to measurements used for location estimation (time
of arrival, angle of arrival and received signal strength
indication). Positioning based on RSS are feasible because
control channel signals are present at MS for every 0.48s
(Garg and Wilkes, 1999). Also, these methods do not need any
and economical for self-positioning of MS. The location is
found from the RSS which gives the distance information. The
distances from three BSs are used in the circular triangulation
for location. Distance calculation using received signal
strength (w) is obtained as (Patil et al., 2005)
prj  kd j  4
K is a constant which takes into account of carrier frequency
and transmitted power, d j is the distance between the MS
th
and the j BS, j=1, 2, and 3.  is the path loss exponent. if
K and  are known, propagation distance can be estimated
from Eq. 4. These methods suffer from several effects such as
multipath, diffraction, weak signals and BS unavailability.
Methods like Pattern recognition technique and Network
measurement report (NMR) also similar disadvantages.
IV. COMPARISON OF POSITIONING METHODS
Each of the method has its own merits and demerits like
greater accuracy but limited in coverage (Table 3). Every
method may suffer due to multipath, diffraction and weak
signal condition. EOTD and assisted-GPS are reported to offer
better accuracies so these methods are of the probable
methods to LBS application. Hearability is a major limiting
factor for both network-based and handset-based methods and
adversely affects the deployment of a location schemes
(Ibnkahla, 2005). Accuracy and response time are foremost
performance measures in positioning technologies (Issac et al.,
2002). Accuracy of positioning methods can be evaluated to
identify the suitable method for varying different
environments and for different services. To measure
positional accuracy Circular Error Probability (CEP),
Geometric Dilution of Precision (GDOP), Mean Square Error
(MSE) and Cramer-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) are used
(Liberti and Rappaport, 1999).
V. CONCLUSIONS
Mobile phones with positioning capabilities are rapidly
spreading around the globe because of its commercial and
safety applications. Network based methods offer good
accuracy in dense urban environment but fails to offer same in
rural environment. On the other hand, hand set based methods
provide privacy (user controlled) to the customer. Among the
methods discussed, hyperbolic and A-GPS methods have real
time applications because of better accuracy. In TDMA
systems, hyperbolic techniques exploit the timing information
while A-GPS takes the advantage of hand to hand cooperation
of GSM and GPS. RSS based methods consider all induced
effects of mobile environment, making them reliable.
Accuracy in turn depends on the location technologies used
and on the network topology.
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MS Positioning

E - 911 Mobility Lawful LBS

management Interception

Fig. 1 Use of MS position for various services

BS BS
MS
MS

Fig. 2 Cell of origin method Fig. 3 Cell of origin with timing advance method
 3
2

Base
Station 2 Base Station 3
Base
Station 1
Base Station 2 1

Base
Station 3

Base Station 1

Figure 4 Concept of ToA method Figure 5 Concept of AoA method

dLMU 3 dLMU 2
LMU

t1 dLMU 1 d2
(X1, Y1, Z1) (x2,y2)
Base Station 1 t2 Base Station 2
(x3,y3) d3
t3 (x,y,z) Base Station 3
Mobile Station (x,y)
(X2, Y2, Z2) MS
Base Station 2 d1
Hyperbola
Hyperbola for GTD2
(X3, Y3, Z3)
for GTD1
Base Station 3
Fig. 6 Time difference of arrival method
(x1,y1)
Base Station 1

GPS Satellites Fig. 7 Enhanced observed time difference method

Reference network

Mobile network
BS

Fig. 8 Concept of A-GPS method

 Table 1 Accuracy requirement for E-911 service (FCC Docket, 1996)
Type of positioning 67% of calls with 95% of calls with
solutions accuracy accuracy
Terminal-based 50 m 150 m
Network-based 100 m 300 m

Table 2 Positioning methods implemented in major cellular systems

System Location technology

GSM Cell identity + time advance and ToA, EOTD A-GPS
IS-136 Cell identity and AoA, A-GPS
IS-95 Cell identity and Time Difference Of Arrival (TDOA)
Advanced Forward Link Trilateration
UMTS Cell identity + round trip time and AoA
EOTD, time difference of arrival (TDOA) andA-GPS

Table 3 Comparison of positioning methods (Mattsson, 2001)

Execution
Method Advantages Limitations
Point
High availability
Handset/
CoO Only need contact with BSs Low accuracy
Network
No modifications needed
CoO with Handset/ Not all handsets support TA
Better accuracy than CoO
TA Network Low accuracy
ToA Network No changes needed in handsets Need of LMU at each BS
Expensive modifications, one LMU
TDoA Network No changes needed in handsets
at each BS
Needs changes both at network and
EOTD Hybrid Good accuracy
handset
AoA Network Need only two BSs Complex antennas required at BS
High availability Not all handsets support
NMR Handset No changes needed Provides calculated guesses
Simple Less accurate
GPS with High accuracy Require LOS
Handset
MS No changes in network Expensive handset modification

A-GPS Hybrid High accuracy Expensive up grades needed

Pattern
Handset Simple and cost effective Poor accuracy
recognition