Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics, Vol. 14, No. 2 , 2003, pp.

8 ~13

Wireless Location Determination for Mobile Objects Based on GSM

in Intelligent Transportation Systems *

Xu Zhiyang & Shi Pengfei

Institute of Image Processing and Pattern Recognition, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200030, P. R. China
(Received April 15,2002)

Abstract: The mobile object (MO) location determination technologies which can be used in intelligent transportation
system (ITS) are studied in this paper. The principles and characteristics of wireless location determination technologies
are introduced and the characteristics of GSM useful for location determination are also summarized. An experimental po-
sitioning system based on GSM is proposed, and the architecture is described. TOA method based on GSM signals and
TDOA method are used in the experimental system. Moreover, the methods are simulated. The performance of the posi-
tioning methods is assessed in the simulation environment, and the accuracy for 67% mobile stations (MS) is 70m in ur-
ban areas.

Keywords: Wireless location, TDOA, AOA, TOA, GSM, ITS

1 . INTRODUCTION base station (BS) is processed in order that the char-

acteristics (transmitting time, angle, signal strength
The ability of positioning mobile objects ( M O s ) , in-
and frequency) of the signal of interest will be esti-
cluding vehicles and travelers holding mobile termi-
mated. According to these characteristics, some posi-
nals, is a fundamental function for some ITS subsys-
tioning methods will be used to estimate M O ' s loca-
tems, such as emergency rescue, security system, au-
tion. Since PLMTSs have been widely used around
tomatic navigation system, and traffic inducement
the world, positioning based on them will be low -
system*- ^.
1

cost, convenient. Furthermore, in the heavily shad-

At present, there are three dominating types'- -' 2

owed urban environments less than four positioning

of wireless positioning technologies, i . e . positioning
satellites can be seen at the same time, so GPS will
based on satellites, positioning based on dedicated
not be suitable for this case. However, positioning
communication systems and positioning based on pub-
based on PLMTS will be useful . C3]

lic land wireless tdecommunication systems (PLMTS),

respectively. The global positioning system (GPS) of 2 . WIRELESS POSITIONING TECHNOLOGIES
U . S. A is a typical satellite positioning system, simi-
Most traditional positioning techniques use some char-
lar to GLONASS of Russian and EUTELTRACS of
acteristics of the signal transmitted from a mobile sta-
Europe available after 2006. In the positioning sys-
tion or base station to determine signal source loca-
tem based on dedicated communication systems, the
tion. The common characteristics are strength of sig-
radio transmitters are spaced along the roadside, with
nal (SOS), angle of arrival ( A O A ) , time of arrival
each transmitter indicating the relative position of the
( T O A ) , and time difference of arrival ( T D O A ) [ 2 ]
.
current position. The transmitters are connected with
The characteristic used in this paper is hybrid T O A /
the location system centre through the dedicated com-
TDOA which was investigated in view of their advan-
munication systems. In P L M T S , such as GSM, IS-
tages over AOA and SOS at present.
95 ( C D M A ) , the signal transmitted between MS and

This project was supported by the National "973" Key Fundamental Research Pi
roject of China (G1998030408) .
Wireless Location Determination for Mobile Objects 9

(a) Signal strength ( )

b 2 " D a n g ! e of arrival

(c) 2-D time of arrival (d) 2-D hyperbola

Fig. 1 Theories of w s location technologies

We assume M S and BS are lying on the same i and j . Equation ( 2 ) defines a hyperbola. At least
plane in Cartesian coordinate. The coordinates for BS two TDOA measurements define the hyperbolas and
and M S are (x , a y ),
a (x , b y ),b ( x , y ),
f c (x ,
p y ).
p
the M S ' s position is determined by-calculating the
According to channel models, such as Okumura and intersection of these hyperbolas. These are nonlinear
Hata models, the distance can be determined from equations. As a performance measure, for T O A mea-
the signal attenuation between MS and BS shown in surements, we construct the function
Fig. 1 ( a ) . In Fig. 1 ( b ) , the MO location is consid- MX) = CUi - Ο - JUi - χρ) + 1 (y,-y )
P 2

ered along the straight line which is defined by the (3)

AOA. where X = (x , p y , t) .
p T This function is formed for
T h e TOA and TDOA techniques are shown in each BS, i = a, b, c, - , and all the / , · ( X ) could be
F i g . l ( c ) , F i g . l ( d ) . The estimated distances from made zero with the proper choice of x ,y ,t. p p Now,
MS to BS are dpa, dpi,, dp., respectively. If T OAs we can resolve this nonlinear least squares problem,
detected in BS are t , t , t , a b c such as steepest descent m e t h o d ^ .

C · t = d,, = J(x -Xi) +(y -yi)

{ p 2 p 2 (D 3 . EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM BASED ON G S M
where i = a, b, c, the velocity of wireless signal is
The experimental system proposed in this paper is
denoted by C .
based on GSM (global system for mobile communica-
While absolute TOA can be used for a mobile lo-
tions) . GSM was developed in Europe, and now
cation, TDOA of the mobile's signal at two different
there are three types of G S M : GSM900, GSM1800
base stations is used to determine its location. This is
(DCS1800) and GSM1900 ( U S A ) . From a position-
known as hyperbolic trilateration. The TDOA of a
ing system ' s viewpoint, the significant difference
MS' signal is given by
among these three types only lies in the carrier fre-
quencies. So, in this paper, all of these systems will
be referred to as GSM.
where t i9 t are the TOA received at BSs i and j , re-
}

spectively, dpi, dpj are the distances of MS from BSs

10
3.1 General Characteristics in GSM
There are many characteristics that are useful for po-
sitioning directly or indirectly in GSM^ ^. The GSM 5
signal is of GMSK modulation, and the bit duration
is 3.692μ5. GSM uses mobile assisted handoff (MA-
H O ) mechanism. During a connection, MS sends re-
ports for received signals for all the BTSs using
M E A S . R E P message every 0.48s through SACCH
(slow associated control channel). In order to syn-
chronize the time frame slot from MS, BS uses the
concept of timing advance ( T A ) to MS, which can
be used to estimate T O A . The distance resolution of
a single T A is 554m. GSM also defines a number of
logical channels, and the training sequence in the
burst of logical channel is useful for time-based posi-
tioning methods. Furthermore, the S M S ^ ( short
message service) is a connectionless data service, and
it can provide location information services in the ex-
perimental system.
3.2 Architecture of Experimental Positioning
System
In Fig. 2, a GSM network-based experimental sys-
tem of wireless positioning is proposed which can be
Annotation :
1 ) M S C : m o b i l e switching centre, SMSC:short message service centre, R T D r e a l time diffei
M O : m o b i l e object, LSC:location service center, LMU:location»measurement unit;
2 ) T h e lines of BSC-Be and MSC-MSC arc not drawn.
Fig. 2 Expenmental system of wireless location based on G S M
Xu Zhiyang & Shi Pengfei
applied to ITS, and the GSM telephones need not to
be modified. ITS subsystems, such as emergency
management, commercial vehicle management, vehi-
cle navigation and traffic planning systems, need sin-
gle or statistic information of MOs ( vehicles or trav-
elers holding GSM terminals). These systems send
the requests to LSC ( location service centre ) , and
then, LSC will start positioning the MOs.
The experimental system consists of two mod-
ules, LSC and LMUs. The LSC is collocated with
MSC and LMUs with BSs. Because GSM network is
not synchronous ( the most time offset of BSs is
± 4 . 6 X 1 0 ~ s , LMUs need to be synchronized or to
6
be monitored with the time offsets, which can be
achieved by placing GPS time receivers. L M U s are
dedicated to detecting the bursts, either to estimate
TO As or mark the received signals with time offset,
then, send the results to LSC. LSC will estimate the
MS location by hybrid TOA/TDOA algorithms by
fusing many kinds of information in order to improve
the positioning performance.
After estimating the locations, LSC will ac-
knowledge the ITS subsystems and provide location
services for the MOs.
:
Wireless Location Determination for Mobile Objects ·· 11

fined in the GSM specifications to acquire all data

3.3 GSM Signaling Based TOA Location
useful for positioning.
This method introduces the tracing function'- -' de- 7

LCS HLR VLR MSC BSC

TRACE. ACTI- ΜΑΡ-ΤΝΑΠΟΝ

VATION TRAŒ_MuDE MAPTRACE-SUBC
RIBER-ACTIVITY
M^P-ACIWATrCN H BSMAP-iVfiC-lNUuKE.
TRACE-ACTI - TRAŒ
VATfON-ACK

Annotation:

HLR:home location register, VLR: visitor location register,

M9C : mobile switching centre, BSC : base station controller

Fig. 3 Location technology based on trace function

LSC can activate a trace by sending TRACEAC-
TIVATION message to HLR or VLR. The system
will comply with the trace activation procedure seen
in Fig. 3 and acknowledge LSC using TRACE _ AC-
T I V A T I O N - A C K message. The T R A C E - A C T I -
V A T I O N - A C K message includes:
ToA of access bursts with correlation with the copies
of access bursts in LMU, or marks the signal with
time offset of LMUs. Finally, it sends the results to
LSC. In LSC, TDOAs will be used for positioning.
The data communication between LMUs and LSC
will be reduced when TDOAs are estimated in

( 1 ) IDs for MSC, BSC, BTS and TRX, ID for LMUs, so network load caused by a positioning sys-

serving cell. tem will also be limited. Thus, TDOAs will be esti-

( 2 ) All radio measurements received from the mated directly in LMUs in the simulation.

MS about adjacent BSs. 4. SIMULATION RESULTS

( 3 ) Actual T A used on the MS uplink, all pa-
rameters about handover.
The MS location can be estimated using the Cell
ID, T A and signal strength. However, these posi-
tioning methods have not enough accuracy, and are
suitable for the subsystems which need the statistical
data about M S s ' location, for instance, traffic plan-
ning systems and traffic flow detection.
3.4 TDOA Positioning Method
In order to obtain more accurate location, the TDOA
method will be deployed besides using GSM signaling
based positioning method. TDOA positioning method
uses the access burst defined in GSM specifications.
MSC sends a command to BSC ( base station con-
troller) and BSC induces the MS to transmit access
burst sequence. In some circumstances, MS can
LSC can obtain the TA sequence through tracing
• function. Since a random error might be large in a
single TA, an average of TA sequence should be tak-
en to improve the accuracy of T A . The simulation re-
sults of TOA and TDOA methods have been obtained
in the following conditions.
( 1 ) The network is made of regular paving of
hexagonal cells, the BSs being located at the centre of
each cell. The structure is represented in Fig. 4. The
distance of adjacent BSs is 1. 5km, and the MS will
move inside 1** cell. The path loss is given by the
standard Hata model.
( 2 ) The multipath propagation only exists in 1 *
cell and the impulse response of multipath compo-
nents is
a\d(t - τ)χ + a 3(t
2 - r ) + a d(t
2 3 - r )
3

transmit up to 70 access bursts to BS through traffic where α , α , β 3 6 [ Ο , Ι Ο ) ; ^ , r , r

1 2 2 3 Ç [0,2T], Τ
channel with a specified power. LMU measures the is the bit duration.
12 Xu Zhiyang & Shi Pengfei

( 3 ) T h e AWGN ( additive white Gaussian so the accuracy of cell ID positioning is different.

noise) channel. Furthermore, the serving base station may not al-
(4) T h e results are optimized with L M S (least ways be close to the M S . However, the cell IDs of
mean square) algorithm, and the BSs are supposed to sector cell, micocell and picocell are useful for elimi-
be synchronized tightly. nating the ambiguity of curve's intersections in hy-
In order to improve the accuracy of TDOA posi- brid TOA/TDOA method, especially in an urban en-
tioning method, the sequences of access bursts are vironment where less than three BSs can detect effec-
used in the simulation. Moreover, 4 bursts, 16 tively the signal from M S .
bursts and 64 bursts are used in comparative trial. (2) The T A used for GSM time frame slot syn-
The GMSK bursts are the same as the ones intro- chronization is assigned with an integer from 0 ~ 6 3 ,
duced in Ref. [ 9 ] . As seen in Fig. 5, the accuracy of the resultant error of single T A estimated might be
positioning for 67 % of the MSs will be 70m. large by a random error, or wrong detection. Ac-
cording to GSM specifications, the T A sequence can
be obtained from M S ' s reports, and positioning error
will be reduced by TA sequence.
( 3 ) For a normal wireless channel, the multi-
path, shadow, fast fading, non LOS, and power
control in GSM are adverse for positioning perfor-
mance. So the high efficiency algorithms of anti-mul-
tipath, LOS construction, etc. should be used.
(4) T h e error of the positioning based on GSM
signaling and integrated with several information
sources can be less than 250m for 67 % users in urban
Fig. 4 Configuration of simulation cell
environments, and in T O A / TDOA simulation the
positioning accuracy can be 70m for 67% users.
(5) In principle, if only MS is in the coverage of
GSM network, the positioning system can estimate
the MS location. Ideally, at least three BSs can re-
ceive the signal transmitted from MS, although the
condition might not meet the urban environment,
other methods such as cell ID can be used to eliminate
the ambiguity.
( 6 ) T h e experimental system needs two-way
signaling in GSM network. So, the network load
60 70 80 90 100 will be increased, the capacity of positioning has an
Percent of mobile object upper limit. Fortunately, experimental system makes
Fig. 5 T D O A positioning the best use of the functions defined in GSM specifi-
cations, and adopts different positioning methods ac-
cording to different demands for positioning accura-
5 · PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS cy, so that, the network load increase will be limited
In this section, the accuracy, coverage and network and the capacity of positioning system will be en-
load Cl0i
of the experimental system is discussed as be- hanced .
low.
6 . CONCLUSIONS
( 1 ) T h e radius of GSM cell varies from tens of
meters (picocell) to tens of kilometers (macrocell), The solution proposed in this paper is based on the
popular GSM, the mobile station used presently need
Wireless Location Determination for Mobile Objects
not modifying, and the location service can be pro-
vided for all of M S . The simulation result shows that
the hybrid positioning method is suitable for ITS sub-
systems. Despite technological advances and big mar-
ket demand on the MS location, if it is deployed in
ITS, there are many challenges that require specific
attention, for instance, accurate positioning, system
cost, system overload, and privacy issues which
should be studied in the future.
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Xu Zhiyang was born in 1976. He received P h . D.
degree from Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2 0 0 3 .
he has been studying in image processing and intelli-
gent transpotation system.
Shi Pengfei was born in 1940. He graduated from
Shanghai Jiaotong University in 1962. He is a pro-
fessor and director of Institute of Image Processing
and Pattern Recognition at Shanghai Jiaotong Uni-
versity from 1990 until now.