Numerical analysis in position location: a frequency‐domain model

Abstract

Purpose

The development of wireless communication techniques has increased the employment of positioning systems, such as GPS. Concerning to this, telecommunication providers predicted that position location (PL) will be an integrated service in the third generation cellular phones. Consequently, in this paper we propose a new method to determine the transmitter/receiver distance, which is based on the transmission of several frames with different frequencies.

Design/methodology/approach

The propagation of electromagnetic waves depends on internal factors related to its nature and external factors characterized by the medium in which the wave is propagated. In this work, we propose a method to determine the distance between the transmitter and the receiver by solving a system of non‐linear equations, which depends on the physical model of the medium in which the wave is propagated.

Findings

The parameters of the model may vary when the link conditions change. As a result, the positioning system must update the model in real time. Following these constraints, a MATLAB simulation to calculate the distance in a satellite‐earth link has been completed. We have shown that scattering phenomena can be used to estimate the transmitter/receiver distance in a radio frequency link. Moreover, any electromagnetic communication in which scattering appears could be considered in the same way.

Originality/value

We have explained a new method to develop a complete PL service. Some of the advantages of this system are that there are no measures in absolute time and that it is not necessary to synchronize the receiving antennas, unlike many current commercial systems.

Citation

Pujol, F.A., Ferrández, F.J., García Chamizo, J.M., Pujol, M. and Rizo, R. (2005), "Numerical analysis in position location: a frequency‐domain model", Kybernetes, Vol. 34 No. 5, pp. 704-710. https://doi.org/10.1108/03684920510595382