Mobile Device Positioning via Cellular Radio Nodes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional enterprise network technologies are ineffective in determining the location of mobile devices within structures, leading to poor context-awareness and personalized service delivery due to limitations in wireless networking topologies like 802.11 standards, where users often disable wireless features or fail to install necessary software.
Innovation Solution
Utilizing indoor cellular radio access networks and unmodified mobile devices, the system employs radio nodes connected to a mobile provider network, with an eRAN controller and location engine to determine device position through signal measurements and triangulation, enabling location-aware and context-aware applications without requiring device modification.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional wireless networking topologies like 802.11 standards are used, then network coverage can be provided, but location determination effectiveness deteriorates because users disable wireless features or fail to install specialized software
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses unmodified mobile devices that automatically participate in location determination without requiring user configuration. The devices leverage their existing cellular radio interfaces and unambiguous identities (IMSI, IMEI) to self-serve in the location determination process, eliminating the need for users to enable special features or install software.
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes the existing cellular radio access network infrastructure for dual purposes: providing mobile network coverage and determining device locations. The same radio nodes and network controller used for communication also perform location determination through signal measurements, eliminating the need for separate dedicated location determination systems.
2Reliability
If dedicated indoor radio access networks are deployed, then mobile network coverage is improved, but device complexity and user participation requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cellular radio access network performs multiple functions simultaneously: providing mobile voice and data services while also enabling location determination. The existing eRAN controller and radio nodes are leveraged for both communication and positioning, avoiding the need for separate dedicated infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
Mobile devices use their existing cellular communication hardware and unambiguous identities (IMSI, IMEI) to participate in location determination without requiring additional components or modifications. The devices self-serve by providing signal measurements and identity information that the network uses to determine location.
3Measurement precision
If signal measurements and triangulation are used for location determination, then positioning accuracy is improved, but measurement and detection difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile device automatically performs signal strength measurements with surrounding radio nodes and reports them to the network. The device's existing cellular software handles the measurement and reporting without requiring user action or specialized applications, making the complex measurement process transparent to the user.
Solution Approach 2:
The eRAN controller acts as an intermediary that collects signal measurements from multiple radio nodes and mobile devices, then performs the complex triangulation calculations to determine precise locations. This mediates the complexity of multi-node signal analysis away from individual devices and concentrates it in the network controller.
Data Source
AI summary
Examples of determining the position of a mobile device within a structure are disclosed. In one example implementation according to aspects of the present disclosure, a computing device may include a processor and a memory. The computing device may further include an extraction module stored in the memory and executing on the processor to extract from a location-based service data stream a signal measurement of the path loss between a mobile device and a plurality of radio nodes distributed throughout a structure. The computing device may also include a positioning determining module stored in the memory and executing on the processor to determine the position of the mobile device within the structure using a known location for each of the plurality of radio nodes distributed throughout the structure by performing a linear optimization using the extracted signal measurement of the path loss.