Early Positioning Fix for Emergency Location Services
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current GPS and satellite positioning systems take significant time to provide an accurate location fix, which can hinder timely emergency response services, as they often require a quick but less accurate position fix to route emergency calls to the correct Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) or initiate emergency responses.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method that allows for an early position fix to be provided quickly, followed by a more accurate final position fix, using modifications to existing protocols such as the 3GPP LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) and Location Services Application Protocol (LCS-AP) to support both Control Plane and User Plane solutions, enabling the use of an optional Information Element (IE) for specifying a response time for the early fix and adding new messages for reporting early and final location fixes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If GPS or satellite positioning techniques are used to obtain an accurate location of a mobile device, then positioning accuracy is improved, but the time required to obtain the position fix increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning process is divided into two separate stages: an early position fix stage that provides quick but less accurate location information, and a final position fix stage that provides accurate location information. This segmentation allows the system to deliver incremental value - immediate positioning for urgent needs (like routing emergency calls) followed by refined positioning for precise location services, thereby resolving the contradiction between speed and accuracy.
2Measurement precision
If GPS or satellite positioning techniques are used to obtain an accurate location of a mobile device, then positioning accuracy is improved, but the response time for emergency services deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary positioning actions by obtaining an early position fix using available location information before the accurate GPS position fix is ready. This preliminary action enables emergency services to be initiated or routed based on the early fix, and then the final accurate position fix refines the location. This preliminary action resolves the contradiction by ensuring emergency response speed is not compromised while still achieving accurate positioning.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are methods and systems for supporting positioning operations in a cellular communication network including locating a mobile device in response to an emergency event. In one particular implementation, a first position fix may be provided quickly by a mobile device and may be followed by a second, more accurate, position fix at a later time. In particular implementations, the first and second position fixes may be provided using the 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) as part of a single LPP transaction and may further be provided using a user plane or control plane location solution.