Mobile Phone Tracking

PDF generated using the open source mwlib toolkit. See http://code.pediapress.com/ for more information. PDF generated at: Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:54:32 UTC

Contents
Articles
Mobile phone tracking Multilateration Real-time locating system Location-based service Local positioning system 1 4 12 19 24

References
Article Sources and Contributors Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 26 27

Article Licenses
License 28

Mobile phone tracking

Mobile phone tracking

Mobile phone tracking refers to the attaining of the current position of a mobile phone, stationary or moving. Localization may occur either via multilateration of radio signals between (several) radio towers of the network and the phone, or simply via GPS. To locate the phone using multilateration of radio signals, it must emit at least the roaming signal to contact the next nearby antenna tower, but the process does not require an active call. GSM is based on the signal strength to nearby antenna masts.[1] Mobile positioning, which includes location based service that discloses the actual coordinates of a mobile phone bearer, is a technology used by telecommunication companies to approximate where a mobile phone, and thereby also its user (bearer), temporarily resides. The more properly applied term locating refers to the purpose rather than a positioning process. Such service is offered as an option of the class of location-based services (LBS).[2]

Technology
The technology of locating is based on measuring power levels and antenna patterns and uses the concept that a mobile phone always communicates wirelessly with one of the closest base stations, so if you know which base station the phone communicates with, you know that the phone is close to the respective base station. Advanced systems determine the sector in which the mobile phone resides and roughly estimate also the distance to the base station. Further approximation can be done by interpolating signals between adjacent antenna towers. Qualified services may achieve a precision of down to 50 meters in urban areas where mobile traffic and density of antenna towers (base stations) is sufficiently high. Rural and desolate areas may see miles between base stations and therefore determine locations less precisely. GSM localization is the use of multilateration to determine the location of GSM mobile phones, usually with the intent to locate the user.[2] Localization-Based Systems can be broadly divided into: Network-based Handset-based SIM-based Hybrid

Network-based
Network-based techniques utilize the service provider's network infrastructure to identify the location of the handset. The advantage of network-based techniques (from mobile operator's point of view) is that they can be implemented non-intrusively, without affecting the handsets. The accuracy of network-based techniques varies, with cell identification as the least accurate and triangulation as moderately accurate, and newer "Forward Link" timing methods as the most accurate. The accuracy of network-based techniques is both dependent on the concentration of base station cells, with urban environments achieving the highest possible accuracy, and the implementation of the most current timing methods. One of the key challenges of network-based techniques is the requirement to work closely with the service provider, as it entails the installation of hardware and software within the operator's infrastructure. Often, a legislative framework, such as E911, would need to be in place to compel the cooperation of the service provider as well as to safeguard the privacy of the information.

Mobile phone tracking

Handset-based
Handset-based technology requires the installation of client software on the handset to determine its location. This technique determines the location of the handset by computing its location by cell identification, signal strengths of the home and neighboring cells, which is continuously sent to the carrier. In addition, if the handset is also equipped with GPS then significantly more precise location information is then sent from the handset to the carrier. The key disadvantage of this technique (from mobile operator's point of view) is the necessity of installing software on the handset. It requires the active cooperation of the mobile subscriber as well as software that must be able to handle the different operating systems of the handsets. Typically, smart phones, such as one based on Symbian, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, BlackBerry OS, iPhone, or Android, would be able to run such software. One proposed work-around is the installation of embedded hardware or software on the handset by the manufacturers, e.g. E-OTD. This avenue has not made significant headway, due to the difficulty of convincing different manufacturers to cooperate on a common mechanism and to address the cost issue. Another difficulty would be to address the issue of foreign handsets that are roaming in the network.

SIM-based
Using the SIM in GSM and UMTS handsets, it is possible to obtain raw radio measurements from the handset.[3] [4] The measurements that are available can include the serving Cell-ID, round trip time and signal strength. The type of information obtained via the SIM can differ from what is available from the handset. For example, it may not be possible to obtain any raw measurements from the handset directly, yet still obtain measurements via the SIM.

Hybrid
Hybrid positioning systems use a combination of network-based and handset-based technologies for location determination. One example would be some modes of Assisted GPS, which can both use GPS and network information to compute the location. Both types of data are thus used by the telephone to make the location more accurate (ie A-GPS). Alternatively tracking with both systems can also occur by having the phone attain his GPS-location directly from the satellites, and then having the information sent via the network to the person that is trying to locate the telephone. Services allowing such cellphone tracking are Mologogo, instaMapper, Buddyway and Google Latitude.[5] [6] [7]

Operational purpose
In order to route calls to a phone the cell towers listen for a signal sent from the phone and negotiate which tower is best able to communicate with the phone. As the phone changes location, the antenna towers monitor the signal and the phone is roamed to an adjacent tower as appropriate. By comparing the relative signal strength from multiple antenna towers a general location of a phone can be roughly determined. Other means is the antenna pattern that supports angular determination and phase discrimination. Newer phones may also allow the tracking of the phone even when turned on and not active in a telephone call-. This results from the roaming procedures that perform hand over of the phone from one base station to another.[8]

Mobile phone tracking

Bearer interest
A phone's location can be uploaded to a common web site where one's "friends and family" can view one's last reported position. Newer phones may have built-in GPS receivers which could be used in a similar fashion, but with much higher accuracy.

Privacy
Locating or positioning touches upon delicate privacy issues, since it enables someone to check where a person is without the person's consent. Strict ethics and security measures are strongly recommended for services that employ positioning, and the user must give an informed, explicit consent to a service provider before the service provider can compute positioning data from the user's mobile phone. In Europe, where most countries have a constitutional guarantee on the secrecy of correspondence, location data obtained from mobile phone networks is usually given the same protection as the communication itself. The United States however has no explicit constitutional guarantee on the privacy of telecommunications, so use of location data is limited by law. With tolling systems, as in Germany, the locating of vehicles is equally sensitive to the constitutional guarantee on the secrecy of correspondence and thus any further use of tolling information beyond deducting the road fee is prohibited. Even obviously criminal intent may not be inferred by such means, although such a use is technically possible. Officially, the authorities (like the police) can obtain permission to position phones in emergency cases where people (including criminals) are missing. The U.S. Justice Department has argued that current laws allow them to track suspects without having probable cause to suspect a law is being violated.[9] In some instances law enforcement may even access a mobile phone's internal microphone to eavesdrop on local conversations while the phone is switched off.[10] The Electronic Frontier Foundation is tracking some cases, including USA v. Pen Register government tracking of individuals.[12] China has proposed using this technology to track commuting patterns of Beijing city residents.[13]
[11]

, regarding

Some "Free" tracking services allow the cellular telephone number being tracked to be added to telemarketers' lists.

References
[1] "Tracking a suspect by mobile phone: Tracking SIM and handset" (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 1/ hi/ technology/ 4738219. stm). BBC News. 2005-08-03. . Retrieved 2010-01-02. [2] "Location Based Services for Mobiles: Technologies and Standards (http:/ / to. swang. googlepages. com/ ICC2008LBSforMobilessimplifiedR2. pdf), Shu Wang, Jungwon Min and Byung K. Yi, IEEE International Conference on Communication (ICC) 2008 (http:/ / www. ieee-icc. org/ ), Beijing, China [3] ETSI TS 102 223 V9.1.0 SIM standard [4] Vodafone Local Zone (http:/ / pcworld. co. nz/ pcworld/ pcw. nsf/ mobwire/ F41D663EAD41BC01CC2574B000133BB3) PC World. [5] InstaMapper (http:/ / www. instamapper. com/ ) [6] Mologogo (http:/ / www. mologogo. com/ ) [7] Buddyway (http:/ / www. buddyway. com/ ) [8] "Roving Bug in Cell Phones Used By FBI to Eavesdrop on Syndicate" (http:/ / www. thechicagosyndicate. com/ 2006/ 12/ roving-bug-in-cell-phones-used-by-fbi. html). The Chicago Syndicate. . [9] Ryan Singel (May 8, 2006). "Cell-Phone Tracking: Laws Needed" (http:/ / www. wired. com/ politics/ security/ news/ 2006/ 05/ 70829). Wired. . [10] "FBI taps cell phone mic as eavesdropping tool" (http:/ / news. cnet. com/ 2100-1029_3-6140191. html). Cnet. December 1, 2006. . Retrieved June 24, 2010. "Kaplan's opinion said that the eavesdropping technique "functioned whether the phone was powered on or off." Some handsets can't be fully powered down without removing the battery; for instance, some Nokia models will wake up when turned off if an alarm is set." [11] http:/ / www. eff. org/ legal/ cases/ USA_v_PenRegister/ [12] Cell Tracking (http:/ / www. eff. org/ issues/ cell-tracking) Electronic Frontier Foundation

Mobile phone tracking

[13] Cecilia Kang (March 3, 2011). "China plans to track cellphone users, sparking human rights concerns" (http:/ / voices. washingtonpost. com/ posttech/ 2011/ 03/ china_said_it_may_begin. html). The Washington Post. .

External links
privacyrights.org (http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs2b-cellprivacy.htm#5) - Protecting Your Privacy in the Age of the Super-Phone Cell Reception (http://www.cellreception.com/towers/) - Google maps API to locate cell towers in the United States Cellphone Tracking Powers on Request (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/ 22/AR2007112201444.html?hpid=topnews), washingtonpost.com GSM Localization on Mobile Phones (http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~walex/papers/ are_gsm_phones_the_solution_for_localization_wmcsa2006.html) OpenCellID: An OpenSource CellID database (http://www.opencellid.org) J2ME and Location-Based Services (http://developers.sun.com/techtopics/mobility/apis/articles/location/) Location API for J2ME (http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~czhou/docs/jsr179/lapi/) openBmap: Map and tools for a free and open Cell ID database in GPL and Creative Common Licence (http:// www.openBmap.org)

Multilateration
Multilateration, also known as hyperbolic positioning, is the process of locating an object by accurately computing the time difference of arrival (TDOA) of a signal emitted from that object to three or more receivers. It also refers to the case of locating a receiver by measuring the TDOA of a signal transmitted from three or more synchronised transmitters. Though based on the concept of triangulation, multilateration should not be confused with trilateration, which uses distances or absolute measurements of time-of-flight from three or more sites, or with triangulation, which uses a baseline and at least two angles measured e.g. with receiver antenna diversity and phase comparison.

Principle
Multilateration is commonly used in civil and military surveillance applications to accurately locate an aircraft, vehicle or stationary emitter by measuring the time difference of arrival (TDOA) of a signal from the emitter at three or more receiver sites. If a pulse is emitted from a platform, it will arrive at slightly different times at two spatially separated receiver sites, the TDOA being due to the different distances of each receiver from the platform. In fact, for given locations of the two receivers, a whole set of emitter locations would give the same measurement of TDOA. Given two receiver locations and a known TDOA, the locus of possible emitter locations is a one half of a two-sheeted hyperboloid.

Multilateration

In simple terms, with two receivers at known locations, an emitter can be located onto a hyperboloid[1] . Note that the receivers do not need to know the absolute time at which the pulse was transmitted - only the time difference is needed. Consider now a third receiver at a third location. This would provide a second TDOA measurement and hence locate the emitter on a second hyperboloid. The intersection of these two hyperboloids describes a curve on which the emitter lies. If a fourth receiver is now introduced, a third TDOA measurement is available and the intersection of the resulting third hyperboloid with the curve already found with the other three receivers defines a unique point in space. The emitter's location is therefore fully determined in 3D.

Fig1. A two-sheeted hyperboloid

In practice, errors in the measurement of the time of arrival of pulses mean that enhanced accuracy can be obtained with more than four receivers. In general, N receivers provide N1 hyperboloids. When there are N>4 receivers, the N1 hyperboloids should, assuming a perfect model and measurements, intersect on a single point. In reality, the surfaces rarely intersect, because of various errors. In this case, the location problem can be posed as an optimization problem and solved using, for example, a least squares method or an extended Kalman filter. Additionally, the TDOA of multiple transmitted pulses from the emitter can be averaged to improve accuracy.

Reciprocal case: locating a receiver from multiple transmitter sites

Multilateration can also be used by a single receiver to locate itself, by measuring the TDOA of signals emitted from three or more synchronised transmitters at known locations. This can be used by navigation systems, an example being the British DECCA navigation system, developed during World War II, which used the phase-difference of two transmitters, rather than the TDOA of a pulse, to define the hyperboloids. This allowed the transmitters to broadcast a continuous wave signal. Phase-difference and time-difference can be considered the same for narrow-band transmitters.

Multilateration

TDOA geometry
Consider an emitter (E in Figure 2) at an unknown location vector E = (x, y, z) which we wish to locate. The source is within range of N+1 receivers at known locations P0, P1, ..., Pm, ..., PN. The subscript m refers to any one of the receivers: Pm = (xm, ym, zm) 0mN The distance (R) from the emitter to one of the receivers in terms of the coordinates is

Fig 2. TDOA geometry.

(1)

The math is made easier by placing the origin at one of the receivers (P0), which makes its distance to the emitter
(2)

Multilateration

Measuring the Time Difference in a TDOA System

Fig

3a.

Pulse

Signal

Fig

3b.

Wide-band

Signal

Multilateration

The distance

in equation 1 is the wave speed (

) times transit time (

- Fig 3c. Narrow-band Signal ). A TDOA multilateration system

measures the time difference ( 0 is

) of a wavefront touching each receiver. The TDOA equation for receivers m and

(3)

Figure 3a is a simulation of the a pulse waveform recorded by receivers and is such that the pulse takes 5 time units longer to reach than

and

. The spacing between

. The units of time in Figure 3 are

arbitrary. The following table gives approximate time scale units for recording different types of waves.
Type of wave Acoustic Acoustic Acoustic Material Air Water Rock Time Units 1 millisecond 1/2 millisecond 1/10 millisecond

Electromagnetic Vacuum, air 1 nanosecond

The red curve in Figure 3a is the cross-correlation function

. The cross correlation function slides one

curve in time across the other and returns a peak value when the curve shapes match. The peak at time = 5 is a measure of the time shift between the recorded waveforms, which is also the value needed for Equation 3. Figure 3b is the same type of simulation for a wide-band waveform from the emitter. The time shift is 5 time units because the geometry and wave speed is the same as the Figure 3a example. Again, the peak in the cross correlation occurs at . Figure 3c is an example of a continuous, narrow-band waveform from the emitter. The cross correlation function shows an important factor when choosing the receiver geometry. There is a peak at Time = 5 plus every increment of the waveform period. To get one solution for the measured time difference, the largest space between any two receivers must be closer than one wavelength of the emitter signal. Some systems, such as the LORAN C and Decca

Multilateration mentioned at earlier (recall the same math works for moving receiver & multiple known transmitters), use spacing larger than 1 wavelength and include equipment, such as a Phase Detector, to count the number of cycles that pass by as the emitter moves. This only works for continuous, narrow-band waveforms because of the relation between phase ( ), frequency (f) and time (T) . The phase detector will see variations in frequency as measured phase noise, which will be an uncertainty that propagates into the calculated location. If the phase noise is large enough, the phase detector can become unstable.

3-D Solution
Equation 3 is the hyperboloid described in the previous section, where 4 receivers (0 m 3) lead to 3 non-linear equations in 3 unknown values (x,y,z). The system must then solve for the unknown emitter location in real time. Civilian air traffic control multilateration systems use the Mode C SSR transponder return to find the altitude (z). Three or more receivers at known locations are used to find the other 2 dimensions (x, y). R. Bucher and D. Misra show the detailed algebra to locate 1 receiver with TDOA between 3 transmitters.[2] Their solution is a set of linear equations to find (x, y) and a quadratic for (z). Improving accuracy with a large number of receivers can be a problem for devices with small embedded processors because of the time required to solve several simulatious, non-linear equations (1, 2 & 3). The TDOA problem can be turned into a system of linear equations when there are 5 or more receivers, which can reduce the computation time. Starting with equation 3, solve for Rm, square both sides, collect terms and divide all terms by :

(4)

Removing the 2 R0 term will eliminate all the square root terms. That is done by subtracting the TDOA equation of receiver m = 1 from each of the others (2 m N)

(5)

Focus for a moment on equation 1. Square Rm, group similar terms and use equation 2 to replace some of the terms with R0.
(6)

Combine equations 5 and 6, and write as a set of linear equations of the unknown emitter location x,y,z

Multilateration

10

(7)

Use equation 7 to generate the four constants

from measured distances and time for each

receiver 2 m N. This will be a set of N homogeneous linear equations. There are many robust linear algebra methods that can solve for the values of (x,y,z), such as Singular value decomposition or Gaussian Elimination. Chapter 15 in Numerical Recipes [3] describes several methods to solve linear equations and estimate the uncertainty of the resulting values.

2-D Solution
Finding the emitter location in a two dimensional geometry can use any of the methods used for the 3-D geometry. The coordinate frame is typically defined to make the z dimension zero or constant. Examples of 2-D multilateration are short wave radio long distance communications through the Earth's atmosphere, acoustic wave propagation in the sound fixing and ranging channel of the oceans and the LORAN navigation system.

Accuracy
For trilateration or multilateration, calculation is done based on distances, which requires the frequency and the wave count of a received transmission. For triangulation or multiangulation, calculation is done based on angles, which requires the phases of received transmission plus the wave count. For lateration compared to angulation, the numerical problems compare, but the technical problem is more challenging with angular measurements, as angles require two measures per position when using optical or electronic means for measuring phase differences instead of counting wave cycles. Trilateration in general is calculating with triangles of known distances/sizes, mathematically a very sound system. In a triangle, the angles can be derived if one knows the length of all sides, (see congruence), but the length of the sides cannot be derived based on all of the angles, not without knowing the length of at least one of the sides (a baseline) (see similarity). In 3D, when four or more angles are in play, locations can be calculated from n+1=4 measured angles plus one known baseline or from just n+1=4 measured sides. Multilateration is, in general, far more accurate for locating an object than sparse approaches such as trilateration, where with planar problems just three distances are known and computed. Multilateration serves for several aspects: over-determination of an n-variable quadratic problem with (n+1)+m quadratic equations stochastic errors prohibiting a deterministic approach to solving the equations clustering needs to segregate members of various clusters contributing to various models of solving, i.e. fixed locations, oscillating locations and moving locations Accuracy of multilateration is a function of several variables, including: The antenna or sensor geometry of the receiver(s) and transmitter(s) for electronic or optical transmission. The timing accuracy of the receiver system, i.e. thermal stability of the clocking oscillators. The accuracy of frequency synchronisation of the transmitter oscillators with the receiver oscillators.

Multilateration Phase synchronisation of the transmitted signal with the received signal, as propagation effects as e.g. diffraction or reflection changes the phase of the signal thus indication deviation from line of sight, i.e. multipath reflections. The bandwidth of the emitted pulse(s) and thus the rise-time of the pulses with pulse coded signals in transmission. Inaccuracies in the locations of the transmitters or receivers when used as a known location The accuracy can be calculated by using the CramrRao bound and taking account of the above factors in its formulation.

11

Example applications
Decca Navigator System - A system used from the end of World War II to the year 2000, employing the phase-difference of multiple transmitters to locate on the intersection of hyperboloids OMEGA Navigation System - A worldwide system similar to Decca, shut down in 1997 GEE - British aircraft location technique from World War II, using accurate reference transmitters LORAN-C - navigation system using TDOA of signals from multiple synchronised transmitters Passive ESM multilateration systems, including Kop, Ramona, Tamara, VERA and possibly Kolchuga location of a transmitter using multiple receivers Mobile phone tracking - using multiple base stations to estimate phone location (by either the phone itself, or the phone network) Reduced Vertical Separation Minima (RVSM) monitoring using Secondary Surveillance Radar - Mode C/S transponder replies to calculate the position of an aircraft. Application to RVSM was first demonstrated by Roke Manor Research Limited in 1992.

Simplification
For applications where no need for absolute coordinates determination is assessed, the implementing of a more simple solution is advantageous. Compared to multilateration as the concept of crisp locating, the other option is fuzzy locating, where just one distance delivers the relation between detector and detected object. This most simple approach is unilateration. However, such unilateration approach never delivers the angular position with reference to the detector. Many solutions are available today [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] . Some of these vendors offer a position estimate based on combining several laterations. This approach is often not stable, when the wireless ambience is affected by metal or water masses. Other vendors offer room discrimination with a room-wise excitation, one vendor offers a position discrimination with a contiguity excitation.

References
The Multilateration Executive Reference Guide [9] is an easy-to-read reference for air traffic management, airport and airline professionals to learn more about this next-generation surveillance technology

Notes
[1] In other words, given two receivers at known locations, one can derive a three-dimensional surface (characterized as one half of a hyperboloid) for which any two points on said surface will have the same differential distance from said receivers, i.e., a signal transmitted from any point on the surface will have the same TDOA (measured by the receivers) as a signal transmitted from any other point on the surface. Therefore, in practice, the TDOA corresponding to a (moving) transmitter is measured, a corresponding hyperbolic surface is derived, and the transmitter is said to be "located" somewhere on the that surface. [2] A Synthesizable VHDL Model of the Exact Solution for Three-dimensional Hyperbolic Positioning System (http:/ / www. hindawi. com/ journals/ vlsi/ 2002/ 935925. abs. html), Ralph Bucher and D. Misra, VLSI Design, Volume 15 (2002), Issue 2, Pages 507-520. [3] Numerical Recipes (http:/ / www. numerical-recipes. com/ ) official website [4] Sonitor Technologies, NO-0314 Oslo, Norway: SONITOR Ultra sound proprietary approach (http:/ / www. sonitor. com)

Multilateration
[5] RF Code, Austin, TX 78758, USA: RF Code 433 MHz proprietary approach (http:/ / www. rfcode. com) [6] ReadPost Bremerhaven Germany: TokLoc, the Bluetooth LowEnergy based approach (http:/ / www. tokloc. de/ tokloc/ tokloclocating/ mission/ mission. html) [7] Albis Zurich Switzerland: ZOMOFI Microwave proprietary approach (http:/ / www. albistechnologies. com/ products/ zone_monitoring/ index. php) [8] Location estimation in wireless telecommunication networks: Ekahau proprietary modified WLAN fuzzy locating approach (http:/ / www. patentstorm. us/ patents/ 7228136. html) [9] http:/ / www. multilateration. com

12

Real-time locating system

Real-time locating systems (RTLS) are a type of local positioning system that allow to track and identify the location of objects in real time. Using simple, inexpensive badges or tags attached to the objects, readers receive wireless signals from these tags to determine their locations.[1] RTLS typically refers to systems that provide passive or active (automatic) collection of location information. Location information usually does not include speed, direction, or spatial orientation. These additional measurements would be part of a navigation, maneuvering or positioning system.

Origin
The term RTLS was created (circa 1998) to describe an emerging technology that not only provided the Automatic Identification capabilities of active RFID tags, but added the ability to see the physical location of the tagged asset on a computer screen. Although this capability had been utilized previously by military and government agencies, the technology had been too expensive for commercial purposes. By the early 1990s, commercialization began at two healthcare facilities in the United States (Foote Hospital in Jackson, MI and Broward Children's Hospital in Pompano Beach, FL). These early adoptors are atrributed to real-time locating industry innovator Precision Tracking (Versus Technology, Inc.) and were based on the transmission and decoding of infrared light signals from actively transmitting tags.

System designs
RTLS excludes passive RFID indexing (radio frequency transponder indexers) and Cellnet base station segment locators (location-based services) from the scope of the ISO/IEC approach to RTLS standardization as well as all beacon systems, that ping without request. RTLS systems apply typically in confined areas, where the required reference points would be equipped with wireless anchor nodes.

Operation
For RTLS to function, the location of tagged items must be determined either by a central processor or by an embedded mobile computing facility. Locating is generally accomplished in one of the following ways 1. ID signals from nodes are identifiable to a single reader in a sensory network thus indicating the coincidence of reader and nodes. 2. ID signals from nodes are picked up by a multiplicity of readers in a sensory network and a position is estimated using one or more locating algorithms 3. Location signals from signposts with identifiers are transmitted to the moving nodes and are then relayed, usually via a second wireless channel, to a location processor. 4. Mobile nodes communicate with each other and perform metering distances. Examples one (1) and three (3) have much of the same characteristics. They typically require that a node be assigned at a time to a single reader/signpost. Separation from overlapping readers/signposts is roughly provided by RSSI or

Real-time locating system Physical Space Division (walls/floors/ceilings). Readers/signposts are often associated with highly stable location boundaries (i.e. a room or room division). In these examples, locations are listed as "Current Location" or "Last Known Location." Example two (2) requires that distances between nodes in the sensory network be determined in order to precisely locate a node. In this instance, the determination of the location is called Localization. The location is calculated through Trilateration or Multilateration from the determined distance between the nodes or through Triangulation from the determined angles between nodes. The determination of distances is called Ranging.

13

Application
RTLS serves in operational areas for logistics and other services,as for example stock grounds or storehouses, and for servicing areas in clinics and industrial plants. Tasks done by a RTLS include: to combine identity and location of any type of items or objects to combine identity of items with location of lifter placing the items to ensure permanent availability of proper information about temporary placement to support notification of placing of items to prove proper manning of operational areas

to prove consequent evacuation of endangered areas to make marshalling staff dispensable

Standards
ISO/IEC
The basic issues of RTLS are standardized by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission, under the ISO/IEC 24730 series. In this series of standards, the basic standard ISO/IEC 24730-1 identifies the terms describing a form of RTLS used by a set of vendors, but does not encompass the full scope of RTLS technology. Currently several standards are published or under discussion: ISO/IEC FDIS 19762-5 Information technology AIDC techniques Harmonized vocabulary, Part 5 Locating systems ISO/IEC 24730-1:2006 Information technology real-time locating systems (RTLS) Part 1: Application program interface (published). ISO/IEC 24730-2:2006 Information technology real-time locating systems (RTLS) Part 2: 2,4GHz Air interface protocol (published, WhereNet/Zebra approach). ISO/IEC WD 24730-5 Information technology real-time locating systems (RTLS) Part 5: (drafted ISO/IEC standard out for balloting in 2008, Nanotron approach). The other proposals ISO/IEC 24730-3 and ISO/IEC 24730-4 had never left the stage of intention. For copies of these documents see references. These standards do not stipulate any special method of computing locations, nor the method of measuring locations. This may be defined in specifications for triangulation or any hybrid approaches to trigonometric computing for planar or spherical models of a terrestrial area.

Real-time locating system

14

ANSI standards
ANS/INCITS 371: Information Technology Real-Time Locating Systems (RTLS).

Ranging
Ranging, as a special term for measuring distance, is the prerequisite for locating. Measuring a bearing angle, i.e. angulating is the other alternative. Determining the distance may be either a non cooperative scanning process, as with RADAR or LIDAR, or a cooperative direct distance measuring process, as with RTLS. A scanned beam may form an overall image as a model of the whole scene. In all other cases the image of the scene is rather selective. The following step is extracting the distance information from the scanned image. Direct distance measurement with a single beam targets only the object to be measured, for example, with a laser. This method requires additional information about the direction of the beam. The remaining method is omni-directional transmission with a signal containing an address code. Only the addressed object responds to the request. The time required for the signal to reach the object can be used to calculate the distance. After completing the distance measurement, the location may be computed. There are two different principles when measuring travel time of radio waves: Trilateration derives the travel time of a radio signal from a metering unit, and measures and computes the distance with the relation of light speed in vacuum, the (Time of arrival concept). Triangulation derives the travel time of a pair of synchronous radio signals from a metering unit with two transmitters, and measures and computes the difference of distance with the relation of light speed in vacuum as an angle versus the baseline of the two transmitters (TDOA time difference of arrival concept). All the terms named here just apply to measurement concepts. All information about location is for services applied to mobile or portable or otherwise transportable objects. Location information may be relevant for managing interaction of persons with services as well. Angle of arrival (AoA) Line-of-sight (LoS) Time of arrival (ToA) Multilateration (Time difference of arrival) (TDoA) Time-of-flight (ToF) Two-way ranging (TWR) according to Nanotrons patents Symmetrical Double Sided Two Way Ranging (SDS-TWR) Near-field electromagnetic ranging (NFER)

Privacy concerns
RTLS may be seen a threat to privacy, if applied to persons, either directly or parasitically. The requirement therefore is to describe the purpose and the conditions of operation to those affected and to advertise for expressed agreement. Recent adjustment of jurisdiction leads to more careful assessment of needs and options. The newly declared human right of informational self-determination de:Informationelle Selbstbestimmung, i.e. to prevent one's identity and personal data from disclosure to others, covers disclosure of locality as well. Base of discussion is very similar to disclosure of personal data for passing immigration at US airports: Balancing threat and burden [2].

Real-time locating system

15

Types of technologies used

There is a wide variety of systems concepts and designs to provide real-time locating. A good choice is listed in RTLS for Dummies by Ajay Malik (Wiley 2009).[3] Methods include: Active radio frequency identification (Active RFID) Active radio frequency identification - infrared hybrid (Active RFID-IR) Infrared (IR) Optical locating,[4] [5] Low-frequency signpost identification Semi-active radio frequency identification (semi-active RFID) Radio beacon,[6] [7] Ultrasound Identification (US-ID) [8] Ultrasonic ranging (US-RTLS) [9] Ultra-wideband (UWB) [10] Wide-over-narrow band [11] Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN, Wi-Fi)[12] Bluetooth,[13] [14] Clustering in noisy ambience,[15] [16]

Bivalent systems [17] A general model for selection of the best solution for a locating problem has been constructed at the Radboud University of Nijmegen.[18] Many of these references do not comply with the definitions given in international standardization with ISO/IEC 19762-5 [19] and ISO/IEC 24730-1.[20] However, some aspects of real-time performance are served and aspects of locating are addressed in context of absolute coordinates.

Locating concepts
A lot of systems concepts sails under the label of real-time locating systems. However the qualification of these approaches is very different and offers a wide variation of cost-to-benefit ratio.

Locating at choke points

There is class of most simple locating which applies no physical measurement at all, but just communicates at coincidence of transceiver and transponder as long as communication may happen. Then locating collapses to simple application of RFID technologies according to the equivalent standard.[21] This is the only option to apply passive RFID tags for locating. Then the reach of the RFID reader determines the choke point. Hence accuracy is defined by the sphere spanned with the reach of the reader. The concept does not serve for discrimination of direction on passage, unless the reader is enhanced with a two distant antenna inputs to determine a sequence of activation and deactivation of the pair of antennae.

Real-time locating system

16

Locating in relative coordinates

Many references describe locating at relative coordinates. Such coordinates may be radial distances compared with reference to known locations and no angular directions. There is no exact metrics required, unless the relation to the reference points is intelligible. This is a valuable support for many operational needs, whereas the precision of the term RTLS is widely diluted to arbitrary interpretation. Such solutions may be referred as fuzzy locating.

Locating in absolute coordinates

The high precision of satellite navigation systems led to some snugness in setting the requirements for locating of objects. generally the determining of absolute coordinates is the most challenging approach. Such solutions may be referred as crisp locating. The difference to the qualities of relative coordinates may be easily understood with indoor sensor operations, where satellites are not commonly available for referring to global coordinates and when always a multiplicity of errors applies. The most challenging problem with modern modulation concepts still is multi-path propagation, which causes ambiguous results of erratic measurement. A sound escape from electromagnetics and surface effects is found with ultra short pulse communications, as with UWB indoor approaches. However, many such concepts often do not serve results for the paid price when the targets move. This may be assessed by the vast number of publications and the very small references on installed solutions

Locating in contiguity
A newer approach for locating defines a location just as the contiguous ambience of the person looking for something to be located. That is very similar to choke point locating. However, the accuracy may be much better tuned, as the reach is not influenced by the steady illumination of the tag with the reader, but just by the tuned transmission power level of an active RFID tag as an itermittent beacon. This is the easy option to apply graded active RFID tags for economised locating. Then the reach of the RFID receiver determines the base point. Hence operational suitability is defined by the algorithm for varying the minimum reach of transmission of the beacon. Solutions are available as very simple electronic leashes or in more complex designs. A very common application is with electronic wireless lock solutions. More advanced applications combine the tag operation with autonomously operating software agents, e.g. in smartphones for monitoring manually controlled systems and services.[22]

Erratic effects in locating systems

Real-time locating is affected by a variety of errors. The major reasons are physical and may not be reduced by improving the technical equipment. The only escape is mathematical intelligence to improve. None or no direct response Many RTLS systems have a very mundane requirement: they require direct and clear wireless visibility. For those systems, where there is no visibility on the path from mobile tags to resident nodes there will be no result or a non valid result from locating engine. This applies to satellite locating as well as other RTLS systems such as angle of arrival and time of arrival. Fingerprinting is a way to overcome the visibility issue: If the locations in the tracking area contain distinct measurement fingerprints, line of sight is not necessarily needed. For example, if each location contains a unique combination of signal strength readings from transmitters, the location system will function properly. This is true, for example, with some Wi-Fi based RTLS solutions. However, having distinct signal strength fingerprints in each location typically requires a fairly high saturation of transmitters. False location The measured location may appear entirely faulty. This is a generally result of simple operational models to compensate for the plurality of error sources. It proves impossible to serve proper location after ignoring the errors.

Real-time locating system Locating backlog Real time is no registered branding and has no inherent quality. A variety of offers sails under this term. As motion causes location changes, inevitably the latency time to compute a new location may be dominant with regard to motion. Either an RTLS system that requires waiting for new results is not worth the money or the operational concept that asks for faster location updates does not comply with the chosen systems approach. Temporary location error Location will never be reported exactly, as the term real-time and the term precision directly contradict in aspects of measurement theory as well as the term precision and the term cost contradict in aspects of economy. That is no exclusion of precision, but the limitations with higher speed are inevitable. Steady location error Recognizing a reported location steadily apart from physical presence generally indicates the problem of insufficient over-determination and missing of visibility along at least one link from resident anchors to mobile transponders. Such effect is caused also by insufficient concepts to compensate for calibration needs. Location jitter Noise from various sources has an erratic influence on stability of results. The aim to provide a steady appearance increases the latency contradicting to real time requirements. Location jump As objects containing mass have limitations to jump, such effects are mostly beyond physical reality. Jumps of reported location not visible with the object itself generally indicate improper modeling with the location engine. Such effect is caused by changing dominance of various secondary responses. Location creep Location of residing objects gets reported moving, as soon as the measures taken are biased by secondary path reflections with increasing weight over time. Such effect is caused by simple averaging and the effect indicates insufficient discrimination of first echoes.

17

External links
International Standardization in Engineering [23] International Standardisation in Industry and Science [24] Search Page for ISO standards concerning RTLS [25] A real-time location search primer [26] International Standardisation in Electrical Engineering [27] International Standardisation in Communications [28] International Lobbying in Automatic Identification [29] US American Lobbying in Automatic Identification [30] Statement of International Lobbying on Real-Time Locating [31] ISO JTC1 (TC122) SC31 WG5 Homepage on RTLS [32] ISO JTC1 (TC122) SC31 WG5 Homepage on MIIM [32] Company driving international standardisation on e.g. RFID and RTLS in US [33] Schedule and actual scope of RTLS standardisation in ISO JTC1, TC122 and SC31 [34] Car-to_Car communications programme funding of the European Union [35] RT Non-Line-of-Sight Localization System by CMR@UNSW [36] the RTLS Blog [37]

Real-time locating system

18

Literature
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] ISO/IEC 19762-5 (http:/ / www. iso. org) http:/ / www. hasbrouck. org/ articles/ PNR. html Malik, Ajay (2009). RTLS For Dummies. Wiley. pp.336. ISBN978-0-470-39868-5. Laserscannersteuerung fr FTF HG 43600 (http:/ / www. goetting. de/ de/ multimedia/ bilder/ produkte/ laser/ ) Auswerter zur optischen Spurfhrung (http:/ / www. goetting. de/ de/ produkte/ optisch/ 73840) RFID Technology from Texas Instruments and RF Code Helps Kids Play it Safe (http:/ / www. rfidjournalevents. com/ live2005/ press_releases/ RF Code. pdf) [7] RFID Technology from Texas Instruments and RF Code Brings Service and Safety to Guests (http:/ / www. rfidjournalevents. com/ live2005/ press_releases/ RF Code. pdf) [8] (http:/ / www. sciam. com/ article. cfm?id=indoor-positioning-system) [9] (http:/ / www. sonitor. com/ news/ ITNfiles/ HospitNews08HospitalDecisi. pdf) [10] UWB RTLS Vendor Improves Sensitivity, Lowers Cost (http:/ / www. timedomain. com/ news/ RFIDUpdate072308. pdf) [11] Essensium LOST system for RTLS combining benefits of UWB and Narrowband (http:/ / www. essensium. com/ lost_system. html) [12] (http:/ / www. nortel. com/ solutions/ wlan/ collateral/ nn120920. pdf) [13] Enhancing Accuracy Performance of Bluetooth Positioning (http:/ / ieeexplore. ieee. org/ xpl/ freeabs_all. jsp?arnumber=4224751) [14] "Real-Time Location Systems" (http:/ / www. clarinox. com/ docs/ whitepapers/ RealTime_main. pdf). clarinox. . Retrieved 2010-08-04. [15] Collaborative Localization (http:/ / mll. csie. ntu. edu. tw/ papers/ collaboration_pervasive2006. pdf) [16] WLAN location determination via clustering and probability distributions (http:/ / ieeexplore. ieee. org/ xpl/ freeabs_all. jsp?arnumber=1192736) [17] services for elderly and disabled people (http:/ / portal. acm. org/ citation. cfm?id=1354947. 1355184Location-based) [18] "Positioning techniques : A general model" (http:/ / www. positioningtechniques. eu). Radboud University of Nijmegen. . [19] Information technology Automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) techniques Harmonized vocabulary Part 5: Locating systems (http:/ / www. iso. org/ iso/ iso_catalogue/ catalogue_tc/ catalogue_detail. htm?csnumber=50718) [20] Information technology Real-time locating systems (RTLS) Part 1: Application program interface (API) (http:/ / www. iso. org/ iso/ iso_catalogue/ catalogue_tc/ catalogue_detail. htm?csnumber=38840) [21] ISO/IEC 19762-3 (http:/ / www. iso. org) [22] Method and Components for Controls of Unblocking Systems or Services (http:/ / depatisnet. dpma. de/ DepatisNet/ depatisnet?action=bibdat& docid=DE102009039879A1) [23] http:/ / www. iec. ch/ [24] http:/ / www. iso. org/ [25] http:/ / www. iso. org/ iso/ search. htm [26] http:/ / www. promotionworld. com/ se/ articles/ article/ 100531-Real-Time-Location-Search-Primer [27] http:/ / www. ieee. org/ [28] http:/ / www. ietf. org/ [29] http:/ / www. aimglobal. org/ [30] http:/ / www. aimusa. org/ [31] http:/ / www. aimglobal. org/ technologies/ rtls/ [32] http:/ / www. autoid. org/ SC31/ wg5. htm/ [33] http:/ / www. qed. org/ [34] http:/ / www. autoid. org/ SC31/ wg5. htm [35] http:/ / www. car-to-car. org/ [36] http:/ / cmr. mech. unsw. edu. au/ research_areas?q=node/ 23 [37] http:/ / www. theRTLSBlog. com

Malik, Ajay (2009). RTLS For Dummies. Wiley. pp.384. ISBN978-0-470-39868-5. Indoor Geolocation Using Wireless Local Area Networks (Berichte Aus Der Informatik), Michael Wallbaum (2006) Local Positioning Systems: LBS applications and services, Krzysztof Kolodziej & Hjelm Johan, CRC Press Inc (2006)

Real-time locating system

19

References

Location-based service
A Location-Based Service (LBS) is an information or entertainment service, accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device [1] [2] [3] .[4] LBS can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, indoor object search[5] , entertainment[6] , work, personal life, etc. .[7] LBS include services to identify a location of a person or object, such as discovering the nearest banking cash machine or the whereabouts of a friend or employee. LBS include parcel tracking and vehicle tracking services. LBS can include mobile commerce when taking the form of coupons or advertising directed at customers based on their current location. They include personalized weather services and even location-based games. They are an example of telecommunication convergence. This concept of location based systems is not compliant with the standardized concept of real-time locating systems and related local services (RTLS), as noted in ISO/IEC 19762-5 [8] and ISO/IEC 24730-1.[9]

History
Research forerunners of today's location-based services are the infrared Active Badge system (19891993), The Ericsson-Europolitan GSM LBS trial ran during 1995 by Jrgen Johansson and the master thesis written by Nokia employee Timo Rantalainen, in 1994. In 1996 the US Federal Communication Commission (FCC) issued rules requiring all US mobile operators to locate emergency callers. This rule was a compromise resulting from US mobile operators seeking the support of the emergency community in order to obtain the same protection from law suits relating to emergency calls as fixed-line operators already had. In 1997 Christopher Kingdon, of Ericsson, handed in the Location Services (LCS) stage 1 description to the joint GSM group of the European Telecommunications Standard Institute(ETSI) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). As a result the LCS sub-working group was created under ANSI T1P1.5. This group went on to select positioning methods and standardize Location Services (LCS), later known as Location Based Services (LBS). Nodes defined include the Gateway Mobile Location Centre (GMLC), the Serving Mobile Location Centre (SMLC) and concepts such as Mobile Originating Location Request (MO-LR), Network Induced Location Request (NI-LR) and Mobile Terminating Location Request (MT-LR). In 2000, after approval from the worlds 12 largest telecom operators, Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia jointly formed and launched the Location Interoperability Forum Ltd (LIF). This forum first specified the Mobile Location Protocol (MLP), an interface between the telecom network and an LBS application running on a server in the Internet Domain. Then, much driven by the Vodafone group, LIF went on to specify the Location Enabling Server (LES), a "middleware", which simplifies the integration of multiple LBS with an operators infrastructure. In 2004 LIF was merged with the Open Mobile Association (OMA). A LBS work group was formed within the OMA. The first consumer LBS-capable mobile web device was the Palm VII, released in 1999.[10] Two of the in-the-box applications made use of the ZIP code-level positioning information and share the title for first consumer LBS application: the Weather.com app from The Weather Channel, and the[11] TrafficTouch app from Sony-Etak / Metro Traffic. The first LBS services were launched during 2000 by TeliaSonera in Sweden (friendfinder, yellow pages, houseposition, emergency call location etc.) and by EMT in Estonia (emergency call location, friend finder, TV

Location-based service game). TeliaSonera and EMT based their services on the Ericsson Mobile Positioning System (MPS). Other early LBS include friendzone, launched by swisscom in Switzerland in May 2001, using the technology of valis ltd. The service included friend finder, LBS dating and LBS games.[12] The same service was launched later by Vodafone Germany, Orange Portugal and Pelephone in Israel[11] . Microsoft's Wi-Fi-based indoor location system RADAR (2000), MIT's Cricket project using ultrasound location (2000) and Intel's Place Lab with wide-area location (2003).[13] The first commercial LBS service in Japan was launched by DoCoMo, based on triangulation for pre-GPS handsets in July 2001, and by KDDI for the first mobile phones equipped with GPS in December 2001.[14] Mobile handset makers have tended to take 'upstream initiative' to embed LBS in their mobile equipment. Originally, LBS was developed by mobile carriers in partnership with mobile content providers. In May 2002, go2 and AT&T launched the first (US) mobile LBS local search application that used Automatic Location Identification (ALI) technologies mandated by the FCC. go2 users were able to use AT&Ts ALI to determine their location and search near that location to obtain a list of requested locations (stores, restaurants, etc.) ranked by proximity to the ALI provide by the AT&T wireless network. The ALI determined location was also used as a starting point for turn-by-turn directions. The main advantage is that mobile users don't have to manually specify ZIP codes or other location identifiers to use LBS, when they roam into a different location. GPS tracking is a major enabling ingredient, utilizing access to mobile web. In 2010, location-based services power Mobile Local Search to enable the search and discovery of persons, places, and things within an identifiable space defined by distinct parameters. These parameters are evolving. Today they include social networks, individuals, cities, neighborhoods, landmarks, and actions that are relevant to the searcher's past, current, and future location. These parameters provide structure to vertically deep and horizontally broad data categories that can stand alone or are combined to form searchable directories.[15]

20

Locating methods
Control Plane Locating
Sometimes referred to as positioning, with control plane locating the service provider gets the location based on the radio signal delay of the closest cell-phone towers (for phones without GPS features) which can be quite slow as it uses the 'voice control' channel.[4] In the UK, networks do not use trilateration; LBS services use a single base station, with a 'radius' of inaccuracy, to determine a phone's location. This technique was the basis of the E-911 mandate and is still used to locate cellphones as a safety measure. Newer phones and PDAs typically have an integrated A-GPS chip. In order to provide a successful LBS technology the following factors must be met: Coordinates accuracy requirements that are determined by the relevant service; Lowest possible cost; Minimal impact on network and equipment. Several categories of methods can be used to find the location of the subscriber.[2] [16] The simple and standard solution is GPS-based LBS. Sony Ericsson's "NearMe" is one such example. It is used to maintain knowledge of the exact location, however can be expensive for the end-user, as they would have to invest in a GPS-equipped handset. GPS is based on the concept of trilateration, a basic geometric principle that allows finding one location if one knows its distance from other, already known locations.

Location-based service

21

GSM Localization
GSM localization is the second option. Finding the location of a mobile device in relation to its cell site is another way to find out the location of an object or a person. It relies on various means of multilateration of the signal from cell sites serving a mobile phone. The geographical position of the device is found out through various techniques like time difference of arrival (TDOA) or Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD).

Others
Another example is Near LBS (NLBS), in which local-range technologies such as Bluetooth, WLAN, infrared and/or RFID/Near Field Communication technologies are used to match devices to nearby services. This application allows a person to access information based on their surroundings; especially suitable for using inside closed premises, restricted/ regional areas. Another alternative is an operator- and GPS-independent location service based on access into the deep level telecoms network (SS7). This solution enables accurate and quick determination of geographical coordinates of mobile phone numbers by providing operator-independent location data and works also for handsets that are not GPS-enabled. Many other Local Positioning Systems are available, especially for indoor use. GPS and GSM don't work very well indoors, so other techniques are used, including Bluetooth, UWB, RFID and Wi-Fi[17] . But which technique provides the best solution for a specific LBS problem? A general model for this problem has been constructed at the Radboud University of Nijmegen.[18] Further information: Mobile phone tracking

LBS applications
Some examples of location-based services are [2] : Recommending social events in a city[1] Requesting the nearest business or service, such as an ATM or restaurant Turn by turn navigation to any address Locating people on a map displayed on the mobile phone Receiving alerts, such as notification of a sale on gas or warning of a traffic jam Location-based mobile advertising Asset recovery combined with active RF to find, for example, stolen assets in containers where GPS wouldn't work Games where your location is part of the game play, for example your movements during your day make your avatar move in the game or your position unlocks content. Real-time Q&A revolving around restaurants, services, and other venues More examples are listed in.[2] For the carrier, location-based services provide added value by enabling services such as: Resource tracking with dynamic distribution. Taxis, service people, rental equipment, doctors, fleet scheduling. Resource tracking. Objects without privacy controls, using passive sensors or RF tags, such as packages and train boxcars. Finding someone or something. Person by skill (doctor), business directory, navigation, weather, traffic, room schedules, stolen phone, emergency calls. Proximity-based notification (push or pull). Targeted advertising, buddy list, common profile matching (dating), automatic airport check-in. Proximity-based actuation (push or pull). Payment based upon proximity (EZ pass, toll watch).

Location-based service In the U.S. the FCC requires that all carriers meet certain criteria for supporting location-based services (FCC 94-102). The mandate requires 95% of handsets to resolve within 300 meters for network-based tracking (e.g. triangulation) and 150 meters for handset-based tracking (e.g. GPS). This can be especially useful when dialing an emergency telephone number - such as enhanced 9-1-1 in North America, or 112 in Europe - so that the operator can dispatch emergency services such as Emergency Medical Services, police or firefighters to the correct location. CDMA and iDEN operators have chosen to use GPS location technology for locating emergency callers. This led to rapidly increasing penetration of GPS in iDEN and CDMA handsets in North America and other parts of the world where CDMA is widely deployed. Even though no such rules are yet in place in Japan or in Europe the number of GPS-enabled GSM/WCDMA handset models is growing fast. According to the independent wireless analyst firm Berg Insight the attach rate for GPS is growing rapidly in GSM/WCDMA handsets, from less than 8 percent in 2008 to 15 percent in 2009.[19] European operators are mainly using Cell-ID for locating subscribers. This is also a method used in Europe by companies such as Podsystem [20] that are using cell based LBS as part of systems to recover stolen assets. In the US companies such as Rave Wireless in New York are using GPS and triangulation to enable college students to notify campus police when they are in trouble. Rave Wireless and other companies with location based offerings are powered by a variety of companies, including Skyhook Wireless and Xtify.

22

Mobile messaging
Mobile messaging plays an essential role in LBS. Messaging, especially SMS, has been used in combination with various LBS applications, such as location-based mobile advertising. SMS is still the main technology carrying mobile advertising / marketing campaigns to mobile phones. A classic example of LBS applications using SMS is the delivery of mobile coupons or discounts to mobile subscribers who are near to advertising restaurants, cafes, movie theatres. The Singaporean mobile operator MobileOne carried out such an initiative in 2007 that involved many local marketers, what was reported to be a huge success in terms of subscriber acceptance. Companies offering location-based messaging (sometimes referred to as 'geo-messaging') include The Coupons App [21](US), Centrl [22](International), Zhiing (international), BluePont (US),[23] Loopt (US), Dodgeball (US) and GeoMe [24](Spain).

Privacy issues
With the passing of the Can Spam Act in 2005, it became illegal in the United States to send any message to the end user without the end user specifically opting-in. This put an additional challenge on LBS applications as far as 'carrier-centric' services were concerned. As a result, there has been a focus on user-centric location-based services and applications which give the user control of the experience, typically by opting in first via a website or mobile interface (such as SMS, mobile Web, and Java/BREW applications). The European Union also provides a legal framework for data protection that may be applied for location-based services, and more particularly several European directives such as: (1) Personal data: Directive 95/46/EC); (2) Personal data in electronic communications: Directive 2002/58/EC; (3) Data Retention: Directive 2006/24/EC. However the applicability of legal provisions to varying forms of LBS and of processing location data is unclear.[25] One implication of this technology is that data about a subscriber's location and historical movements is owned and controlled by the network operators, including mobile carriers and mobile content providers.[26] A critical article by Dobson and Fisher[27] discusses the possibilities for misuse of location information. Beside the legal framework there exist several technical approaches to protect privacy using privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs). Such PETs range from simplistic on/off switches [28] to sophisticated PETs using anonymization techniques,[29] e.g., related to k-anonymity. Today, only few LBS offer such PETs, e.g., Google Latitude offers an on/off switch and allows to stick one's position to a free definable location. Additionally, it is an

Location-based service open question how users perceive and trust in different PETs. The only study that addresses user perception of state of the art PETs is.[30] . Another set of techniques included in the PETs are the Location obfuscation techniques, which slightly alter the location of the users in order to hide their real location while still bein able to represent their position and receive services from their LBS provider.

23

Industry Value
In 1999, analysts predicted that the industry would be worth USD 20 billion annually by 2005.[31]

Further reading
Werbach, Kevin (June 28, 2000). "Location-Based Computing: Wherever You Go, There You are" [32]. Esther Dyson's Monthly Report (edventure.com) 18 (10): 16. Archived from the original [33] on 20011-05-04. Retrieved 2011-05-04.

References
[1] "Recommending Social Events from Mobile Phone Location Data" (http:/ / www. cl. cam. ac. uk/ ~dq209/ publications/ recommending10quercia. pdf), Daniele Quercia, et al., ICDM 2010 [2] "Foundations of Location Based Services" (http:/ / sourceforge. net/ projects/ jump-pilot/ files/ w_other_freegis_documents/ articles/ lbs_lecturenotes_steinigeretal2006. pdf/ download), Stefan Steiniger, Moritz Neun and Alistair Edwardes, University of Zurich [3] "Permanent Reference Document SE.23: Location Based Services (http:/ / www. gsmworld. com/ documents/ se23. pdf), GSM Association [4] "Location Based Services for Mobiles: Technologies and Standards (http:/ / to. swang. googlepages. com/ ICC2008LBSforMobilessimplifiedR2. pdf), Shu Wang, Jungwon Min and Byung K. Yi, IEEE International Conference on Communication (ICC) 2008 (http:/ / www. ieee-icc. org/ ), Beijing, China [5] B. Guo, S. Satake, M. Imai. Home-Explorer: Ontology-based Physical Artifact Search and Hidden Object Detection System (http:/ / www. ayu. ics. keio. ac. jp/ members/ bingo/ pic/ research/ sixth-sense/ homeexplorer-j-guo. pdf). Mobile Information Systems, Vol. 4 No.2 (2008), 81-103, IOS Press, 2008. [6] B. Guo, R. Fujimura, D. Zhang, M. Imai. Design-in-Play: Improving the Variability of Indoor Pervasive Games (http:/ / www. springerlink. com/ content/ c50217p160272h44/ ). Multimedia Tools and Applications, Springer, 2011 [7] Deuker, Andr (2008), "Del 11.2: Mobility and LBS" (http:/ / www. fidis. net/ resources/ deliverables/ mobility-and-identity/ ), FIDIS Deliverables 11 (2), [8] ISO/IEC 19762-5 (http:/ / www. iso. org/ iso/ en/ iso_catalogue/ catalogue_ics/ catalogue_detail_ics. htm?csnumber=50718& ICS1=35& ICS2=40) Information technology -- Automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) techniques -- Harmonized vocabulary -- Part 5: Locating systems [9] ISO/IEC 24730-1 (http:/ / www. iso. org/ iso/ iso_catalogue/ catalogue_tc/ catalogue_detail. htm?csnumber=38840) Information technology -- Real-time locating systems (RTLS) -- Part 1: Application program interface (API) [10] Newsweek - "The World in Your Hand" (http:/ / www. newsweek. com/ id/ 88432) [11] http:/ / www. tarif4you. de/ news/ n10079. html [12] portal.acm.org/ft_gateway.cfm?id=1052394&type=pdf [13] Anind Dey, Jeffrey Hightower, Eyal de Lara, Nigel Davies (2010): Location-Based Services. Pervasive Computing 1/2010, 11-12 [14] "Location Based Services FAQ (LBS-FAQ)" (http:/ / www. eurotechnology. com/ market_reports/ LBS/ ), Location Based Services FAQ (LBS-FAQ) [15] "Mobile Local Search Saturates Profit over LBS Vendors, Advertisers, and Search Application Developers" (http:/ / www. directionsmag. com/ press. releases/ ?duty=Show& id=44939) [16] LBS Positioning Methods http:/ / www. navigationevent. com/ pdf/ tyntec_kunz. pdf [17] "Precise Indoor Localization Using Smart Phones" (http:/ / www. icsi. berkeley. edu/ pubs/ speech/ preciseindoor10. pdf) E. Martin, O. Vinyals, G. Friedland, R. Bajcsy, ACM Multimedia 2010, 787-790 [18] "Positioning techniques : A general model" (http:/ / www. positioningtechniques. eu). Radboud University of Nijmegen. . [19] Berg Insight - GPS and Mobile Handsets (http:/ / www. berginsight. com/ ReportPDF/ ProductSheet/ bi-gps4-ps. pdf) [20] http:/ / www. podsystem. com [21] http:/ / www. thecouponsapp. com [22] http:/ / www. centrl. com [23] Mobile Technology provided by BluePont allows you to find last minute workout buddy (http:/ / www. snewsnet. com/ cgi-bin/ snews/ 13748. html/ ) SNEWSNET reviews BluePont - a Location based service in US [24] http:/ / www. geo-me. com

Location-based service
[25] Cuijpers, Colette; Roosendaal, Arnold; Koops, Bert-Jaap (2007), "Del 11.5: The legal framework for location-based services in Europe" (http:/ / www. fidis. net/ resources/ deliverables/ mobility-and-identity/ ), FIDIS Deliverables 11 (5), [26] "WhyGeo" (http:/ / whygeo. com/ questions/ 26/ what-are-the-downsides-of-using-location-based-services), What are the downsides of using location-based services?,2010 [27] "Geoslavery" (http:/ / dusk. geo. orst. edu/ virtual/ 2005/ geoslavery. pdf), J.E. Dobson and P.F. Fisher, IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 2003 [28] Barkhuus; Dey (2003), ".: Location-based services for mobile telephony: A study of users' privacy concerns", CHI INTERACT [29] Mokbel; Chow; Aref (2006), ".: The new casper: query processing for location services without compromising privacy", VLDB [30] Burghardt, Thorben; Buchmann, Erik; Mueller, Jens; Boehm, Klemens (2009), ".: Understanding User Preferences and Awareness: Privacy Mechanisms in Location-Based Services", Coopis [31] "SnapTrack's Personal Location Technology to be Available for Microsoft Mobile Explorer Phone Platform". Sinocast (Westlaw). December 14, 1999. [32] http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ 5yQd8VpVd [33] http:/ / cdn. oreilly. com/ radar/ r1/ 06-00. pdf

24

Local positioning system

A local positioning system (LPS) is a navigation system that provides location information in all weather, anywhere within the coverage of the network, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to three or more signaling beacons of which the exact position on earth is known. A special type of LPS is the Real-time locating system; which also allows real-time tracking of an object or person.

Use
Unlike GPS or other global navigation satellite systems, local positioning systems don't provide global coverage. Instead, they use (a set of) beacons which have a limited range, hence requiring the user to be near these. Beacons include celllular base stations, Wi-Fi access points (used by the Skyhook Wireless system), and radio broadcast towers. In the past, long-range LPS's have been used for navigation of ships and aircraft. Examples are the Decca Navigator System and LORAN. Nowadays, local positioning systems are often used as complementary (and in some cases alternative) positioning technology to GPS, especially in areas where GPS does not reach or is weak, for example, inside buildings, or urban canyons. Local positioning systems using cellular broadcast towers are also heavily used to determine the current position of a person (carrying a cellphone without GPS-capability), ie for a wide array of services. See Mobile phone tracking

Techniques
An LPS can either use: triangulation trilateration or multilateration to calculate the position of an object.

Local positioning system

25

Commercial systems
Commercial systems on the market and/or in progress include[1] : Microsoft's RADAR [2] Ekahau's RTLS [3] Zebra Technologies Corporation RTLS WhereLAN [4] Awarepoint RTLS [5] Skyhook Wireless

References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Elektor magazine February 2011, Geolocalisatie zonder GPS http:/ / research. microsoft. com/ en-us/ projects/ radar/ default. aspx http:/ / www. ekahau. com/ http:/ / zes. zebra. com/ products/ rtls/ index. jsp http:/ / www. awarepoint. com/

Article Sources and Contributors

26

Article Sources and Contributors

Mobile phone tracking Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=448545069 Contributors: Multilateration Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=440042794 Contributors: Real-time locating system Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=448872987 Contributors: Location-based service Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443244741 Contributors: Local positioning system Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=445792034 Contributors: -

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

27

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

File:HyperboloidOfTwoSheets.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:HyperboloidOfTwoSheets.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Image:TDOA Geometry.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:TDOA_Geometry.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: TinyPebble Image:CrossCorr_Pulse.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:CrossCorr_Pulse.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: TinyPebble Image:CrossCorr_Wideband.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:CrossCorr_Wideband.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: TinyPebble Image:CrossCorr_Narrowband.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:CrossCorr_Narrowband.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: TinyPebble

License

28

License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported http:/ / creativecommons. org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 3. 0/