Database Correlation Method with Error Correction for Emergency Location

Abstract

The constantly growing number of mobile terminal users increases also the number of mobile originated emergency calls. In the United States mobile terminal location in case of an emergency call was mandated with stringent accuracy requirements by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1996. Since July 2003 emergency call location is required also in the European Union (EU), but contrary to the US, without accuracy limits. The global positioning system (GPS) offers high location accuracy, but the density of GPS-capable terminals is very low. Thus, to be able to provide location estimations for all mobile originated emergency calls nationwide, techniques based on cellular network are preferred. In many cases, however, conventional techniques cannot provide sufficient accuracy. This is typical especially for urban areas, where obstacles in signal propagation path degrade location estimation. In urban areas the mobile terminal user density is high and a substantial part of urban emergency calls are mobile originated requiring accurate location estimation. In this paper, we propose a method for emergency call location in urban areas. This database correlation method (DCM) is complemented by error correction method (ECM) developed in the frame of the EU IST project cellular network optimization based on mobile location (CELLO) [http://www.telecom.ntua.gr/cello/]. In performance evaluations DCM has proven to offer sufficient urban accuracy of 44 m in GSM field trial and 25 m in UMTS simulations. The ECM has been tested and proven to ease the implementation of DCM.