Localization & Positioning

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Localization and Positioning


Mobile network operators in the United Staes have to support the FCC (Federal Communication Commission) LCS (Location Services) requirements. This rtequires that for any E911 emergency call the location of the calling MS shall be provided in terms of latitude and longitude coordinates. The FCC requirement for location accuracy is
  • for any operator using a network centric position method (e.g. TOA): 100 meters for 67% of E911 calls and 300 m for 95% of calls
  • for any operator using a mobile centric position method (e.g. E-OTD, GPS): 50 meters for 67% of E911 calls and 150 m for 95% of calls
Similar requirements are currently set up in Europe.


Another driving factor for delpoying a mobile location system is the market for commercial location services, e.g. info and guiding services.

The determination of the exact location of the mobile station (Localization/Positioning) in cellular networks  is therefore is a very important issue. The localization/positioning of users is based on
  • Satellite technology:  GPS
  • Evaluation of measurements  in the cellular networks



GPS (Global Positioning System) - Satellite based Positioning

Very often GPS technology is used. Therefore AWE Communications offers a GPS module as extension for the ProMan software tool.

With the GPS module it is possible to predict the number of satellites received at a given location (and time) and the level of the signal received from the satellite. These computations are possible for large areas and consider
Of course also indoor analysis is possible if the indoor walls of the buildiungs are known.

Evaluations for a long time period can also be made (with discrete time intervals). ProMan predicts the following outputs for each pixel (location) in the prediction area:
  • number of satellites received
  • LOS/NLOS information for each satellite
  • signal level received in the GPS receiver for each satellite 
These values can be predicted for arbitrary time and date combinations and are exported in ASCII files for further processing by the user. So the user has the option to use this data for his prediction of the localization accuracy with GPS or A-GPS. 

The location of the satellites is computed based on the Almanac description and can be downloaded here. ProMan reads these files and considers the information for the computation of the position of the satellite at a given time and date.

Obviously this WinProp module can also be used for the European Galileo navigation system (or further systems), as the number of satellites as well as their orbits can be defined by the user

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Cellular Network Measurements - Network based

Together with our partner Siemens, AWE Communications developed software modules for ProMan to predict the accuracy of different localization methods for 2G and 3G networks:

  • E-OTD (Enhanced Observed Time Difference)
  • E-CITA (Enhanced Cell ID / Timing Advance)
  • A-GPS (Assisted GPS)
  • CIT+ (Cell Identifier Timing Plus)
ProMan computes the required data (time delays, path loss values, Line of sight status,....) for the radio links between each location and all base stations. With this input data and further parameters the positioning accuracy is determined.

If you need further information to these modules please contact us.



Download a brochure of the Company
Read more scientific papers concerning localization
Read more about the Network Planning Modules 


















GPS Satellites