Methods for Mobile Phone Tracking and Cell Phone Location raise the question: Do you really know where they are?
Methods for Mobile Phone Tracking and Cell Phone Location Raise the Question: Do you really know where they are?
Mobile communications means more than just making a phone call while on the move. The hottest cell phones include GPS position features to track phone location. These features, and others such as SMS texting, web access and the capability to utilize other software make cell phones great gadgets. However GPS satellites aren’t always available, such as when the phone is in a structure such as an office, mall, or even when driving. That doesn’t mean smartphone locating isn’t available, but it does mean there are other ways of being a tracker.
To track a cell phone involves several main ways of formulating smartphone location. GPS Global Positioning System-Satellites, Triangulation, and CellID. All these technologies convert smartphones into mobile tracking devices. These systems can be viewed as Network Based, Handset Based or a Hybrid approach. GPS location is Handset based as it requires software applications installed on the cell phone along with GPS hardware. Triangulation and CellID are Network Based as they use the equipment and data from the wireless provider. Hybrid systems combine techniques to make best use of available data and to make position phone tracking faster.
Mobile phone GPS is what people commonly think of when considering locating smartphones. GPS (Global Positioning System) using satellites is the most well known and more accurate way of tracking. However GPS needs satellites to be in direct line of site of the cell phone.
Sometimes thick cloud cover and thick foliage interferes with reception.
If the handset is in a structure, for example your office, shopping center. Some mobile phones will retain the last known GPS location, others might not.
Another issue with mobile phone GPS tracking is the possibility of battery drain. It is important to be able to remotely adjust the frequency of taking GPS position. Choosing real-time or periodic sampling affects both the resolution of determining position along with how long the battery will last.
GPS receivers, whether in a mobile phone, or a dedicated GPS tracking device, calculate location by precisely timing the signals sent by GPS satellites. This information includes the time the message was transmitted, precise orbital information (the ephemeris), and the general system condition and estimated orbits of all GPS satellites (the almanac). GPS receivers sometimes take a long time to become ready to use after it's turned on because it must acquire some basic information in addition to finding GPS satellite signals. This slow start is sometimes caused if the GPS mobile phone has been turned off for days or weeks, or has been moved a far distance while unused for. The GPS must update its almanac and ephemeris data and store it in memory. The GPS almanac is a set of data that every GPS satellite transmits. When a GPS receiver has current almanac data in memory, it can acquire satellite signals and find initial position more quickly.
GPS Hot Start is when the GPS enabled smartphone keeps its last known position, the satellites that were in range before, the almanac data in memory, and makes an attempt to connect to the same satellites and determine a new position based upon the previous information. This is almost always the quickest GPS lock but Hot Start only works if the phone is generally in the same location as when the GPS was last turned off.
GPS Warm Start is when the GPS enabled cell phone keeps its last calculated location, and almanac used, but not which satellites were in range. It performs a reset and makes an attempt to connect to satellite signals and calculates a new position.
The GPS receiver narrows the choice of which satellites tolook for because it stored its last known position and the almanac data helps identify which satellites are in range. The Warm Start will take more time than the Hot Start but not as long as a Cold Start.
With GPS Cold Start, the device deletes all the previous data, and attempts to locate satellites and accomplish a GPS lock. This takes more time because there is no known reference information. The GPS enabled mobile phone receiver has to try to lock onto a satellite signal from any available satellites.
In order to have better GPS lock times cellular manufacturers and wireless operators developed Assisted GPS technology. In the US Sprint, Nextel, Verizon Wireless, and Alltel all use Assisted GPS. This is a method of using the cell network to speed up finding of GPS satellites. GPS Receivers can get a faster lock at the expense of a few kilobytes of data transmission.
A-GPS assists location tracking functions of mobile phones (and other connected devices) in a couple of ways:
One method is by helping to obtain a more rapid "time to first fix" (TTFF). AGPS acquires and archivesinformation about satellite locationusing the cell network so the coordinates information does need to be downloaded via the satellite.
The second way is by helping position devices when GPS signals are weak or blocked. As discussed above GPS satellite signals may be interfered with by tall buildings, and do not penetrate building interiors well. A-GPS utilizes proximity to cellular towers to calculate location when GPS signals are not available.
If satellite signals are not available, or accuracy is less important than battery life, using Cell-ID is a useful substitute to GPS smartphone tracking. The position of the mobile phone can be calculated by the cell network cell id, which identifies the cell tower the phone is using. By knowing the position of this tower, then you can know approximately where the handset is. But, a tower can cover a huge area, from a few hundred meters, in high density areas, to several miles in lower density areas. This is why location CellID precision is less than than GPS accuracy. Nonetheless tracking from CellID still provides a very useful alternative.
Another method of determining cell phone location is Triangulation or Mobile Location Services (MLS). Cell Tower Triangulation uses signal analysis data to calculate the time it takes signals to travel from your phone to at least three cell towers to estimate location.
To comply with Federal Communications Commission guidelines, cell phone companies must be able to provide authorities with mobile phone latitude and longitude to an accuracy of 50 to 300 meters. Cell Tower Triangulation doesn’t always meet this requirement. For comparison commercially available GPS modules can achieve accuracy down to less than 10 meters. This depends upon many factors, as GPS signals are often very weak and are affected by many variables. With Mobile Location Services (MLS), the GSM cellular network provider utilizes triangulation techniques to determine the position of the handset, its accuracy is proven to be much worse than that of GPS. MLS is also affected by factors similar to GPS in the sense of the interference affecting signal quality and the density of GSM towers to assist in the triangulation effort. In remote areas location accuracy may be off as much as a mile.
Generally speaking it is a matter of what location tracking system is available, and the requirements for accuracy. Hybrid methods are emerging that use various techniques in tandem to provide best available location given available resources. Typically the application determines the location with a GPS receiver and transmits the tracking data to a server through a data connection. The data connection to the server is usually made over the Internet. How often GPS samples are taken and how often and by what method the information is sent to the server impact usefulness and costs.
Consider that there is a basic difference between handset GPS Tracking and Navigation. GPS mobile phone tracking is usually related to a third-party keeping records of either real-time or historical smartphone position, while Navigation deals with the cell phone user figuring out how to get from point A to point B.
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