Method and apparatus for supporting multiple wireless carrier mobile station location requirements with a common network overlay location system

• US 20040132466A1
• Filed: 12/19/2003
• Published: 07/08/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Andrew LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Andrew Corporation (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kennedy, Joseph P. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 7,162,252 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A system and method supports multiple wireless carrier mobile station location requirements with a common network overlay location system. The common network overlay location system shares geolocation assets such as location measurement units (LMU), geo-location control system (GCS), and, optionally, mobile positioning centers (MPC). The shared location assets are configured to operate with each of the sharing carrier systems. The number of sharing carriers in the same market is not limited. LMUs are configurable and switchable to measure attributes of the transmitted signal from mobile stations belonging to any of the wireless carriers which are used by the common location system to estimate the location of the mobile station using time of arrival, time difference of arrival, angle of arrival, signal power, and combinations of the same. The location of the LMUs are configured to provide an acceptable level of accuracy while minimizing a function such as the need for additional LMUs and cost.

Claims

1. A network overlay geolocation system capable of geolocating a first and a second mobile station operating in a geographic area serviced by a first and a second wireless communication system, respectively, where each communication system includes plural base stations, a base station controller, and a mobile switching center;

the geolocation system comprising;

a plurality of local measurement units (“

LMUs”

);

at least one mobile positioning center (“

MPC”

); and

,

a geolocation controller (“

GCS”

);

wherein the first mobile station is configured to communicate over the first wireless communication system and the second mobile station is configured to communicate over the second wireless communication system and wherein the mobile positioning center is configured to task the GCS to locate the first or second mobile station.

2. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 1 wherein the MPC comprises a first and a second MPC wherein the first MPC is configured to task the GCS to locate the first mobile station and the second MPC is configured to task the GCS to locate the second mobile station.

3. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 1 wherein the first wireless communication system is configured to communicate with the first mobile station over a first air interface and the second wireless communication system is configured to communicate with the second mobile station over a second air interface.

4. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 3 wherein the first air interface is different from the second air interface.

5. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 4 wherein the first air interface is a TIA air interface.

6. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 4 wherein the first air interface is an ETSI air interface.

7. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 1 further comprising a monitoring unit configured to obtain call set up information from one of the first or second wireless communication systems and configured to provide the call set up information to the GCS.

8. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 7 wherein said monitoring unit is configured to obtain call set up information from both the first and the second wireless communication systems.

9. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 7 further comprising a second monitoring unit configured to obtain call set up information from the other of the first or second wireless communication systems and configured to provide the call set up information to the GCS.

10. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of LMUs are configured to obtain attribute measurements from both the first and second mobile stations.

11. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 1 wherein the attribute is selected from the list consisting of frequency band, air interface, and protocol standards.

12. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 1 wherein the first and second wireless communication systems operate over different frequencies bands.

13. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 1 further comprising a first antenna array located at one of the plural base stations of the first wireless communication system and configured to communicate with the second mobile station.

14. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 13 wherein one of the plural LMUs is located at said one of the plural base stations of the first wireless communication system and wherein said LMU is switchably connected to said first antenna array and to a second antenna array configured to communicate with the first mobile station.

15. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 14 where the switch is a processor.

16. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 1 wherein the first wireless communication system is a PCS wireless communication system.

17. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 1 wherein the first wireless communication system is a cellular wireless communication system.

18. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 1 wherein the geolocation system is further configured to locate a third mobile station served by a third wireless communication system in said geographic area.

19. The network overlay geolocation system of claim 1 wherein a majority of the LMUs are located at base stations of the first or second wireless communication system.

20. A method for geolocating a target mobile station in a geographic area serviced by a plurality of wireless communication systems each having plural base stations for communicating with a plurality of mobile stations where the plural wireless communication systems are operably connected to a network overlay geolocation system having a plurality of LMUs and a GCS, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting a signal from the target mobile station to one of the plurality of wireless communication systems to thereby place a call from the target mobile station;

tasking the GCS to locate the target mobile;

configuring the LMUs to measure an attribute of the signal transmitted by the target mobile station based on call set up information for the call from the target mobile station and an attribute of the serving wireless communication system; and

,

locating the target mobile based in part on the measured attribute.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the call from the target mobile station is sourced from the base station.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein the call from the target mobile station is sourced from the target mobile station.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein the attribute of the serving wireless communication system is frequency band.

24. The method of claim 20 wherein the attribute of the serving wireless communication system is an air interface.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the air interface is a TIA interface.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein the air interface is a ESTI interface.

27. The method of claim 20 wherein the call setup information is derived from monitoring an Abis signal.

28. The method of claim 20 wherein the call setup information is derived from a Mobile Positioning Center operably connected to the serving wireless communication system.

29. A method for selecting a set of LMUs locations from a plurality of possible LMUs locations in a geographic area serviced by a plurality of wireless communication systems, comprising the steps of:

modeling a coverage plan for each of the plural wireless communication systems over the geographic area;

selecting LMUs from the plurality of LMUs to thereby provide plural candidate LMU sets;

simulating the operational performance of each of the candidate LMU sets over the geographic area for each of the plural wireless communication systems;

comparing the simulated operational performances of the candidate LMU sets to thereby determine the candidate LMU set with an optimal simulated operational performance; and

selecting the candidate LMU set with the optimal simulated operational performance.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the candidate LMU set selected is used for designing a network overlay geolocation system.

31. The method of claim 29 wherein the candidate LMU set selected is used for a specific location event.

32. The method of claim 29 wherein the operational performance is location accuracy.

33. The method of claim 29 wherein the step of modeling is based on one of mobile station transmitter power, radio frequency propagation, or LMU location.

34. The method of claim 29 wherein each of the plurality of wireless communication systems includes a subset of said plurality of LMUs.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the subset of LMUs associated with one of the plurality of wireless communication systems is comprised of LMUs not associated with others of the plurality of wireless communication systems.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein one of the plural candidate LMU sets comprises LMUs associated with one of the plurality of wireless communication systems.

37. The method of claim 35 wherein the LMUs associated with one of the plurality of wireless communication systems are located at base stations associated with said one wireless communication system.

38. The method of claim 29 wherein the step of simulating the operational performance of the candidate LMU sets is based in part on minimizing a predetermined operational parameter.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein the operation parameter being minimized is selected from the set consisting of cost and the number of LMUs.

40. In a network overlay geolocation system for determining the geolocation of mobile stations associated with a first wireless communication system having a first plurality of base stations where the geolocation system includes LMUs located at ones of the first plurality of base stations, a method for determining the geolocation of a mobile station associated with a second wireless communication system having a second plurality of base stations, comprising the steps of:

(a) modeling a coverage plan for the second wireless communication system using said LMUs to thereby obtain a simulated geolocation performance parameter;

(b) evaluating the simulated parameter and if the evaluation is unacceptable, modeling the coverage plan for the second wireless communication system using said LMUs and at least one additional LMU located at a base station associated with the second wireless communication system to thereby obtain a simulated geolocation performance parameter;

(c) repeating step (b) until the evaluation is acceptable; and

(d) locating said at least one additional LMU at the base station associated with the second wireless communication system according to the remodeled coverage plan so as to determine the geolocation of a mobile station associated with the second wireless communication system.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the simulated geolocation performance parameter is location accuracy.

42. The method of claim 40 wherein the first plurality of base stations is unique from the second plurality of base stations.

43. The method of claim 40 wherein ones of the base stations in the first plurality of base stations are the same as ones of the base stations in the second plurality of base stations.

44. The method of claim 40 wherein an LMU is located at each base station of the first plurality of base stations.

45. The method of claim 40 wherein the simulated parameter is evaluated against a predetermined threshold.

46. The method of claim 40 wherein the first and second wireless communication systems have different air interfaces.

47. The method of claim 40 wherein the modeling of the coverage plan for the second wireless communication system is based at least in part on at least one of radio frequency propagation, LMU location, and power emitted by the mobile station being geolocated.

48. In a network overlay geolocation system for determining the geolocation, within a predetermined accuracy, of mobile stations associated with a first wireless communication system having a first plurality of base stations where the geolocation system includes LMUs located at ones of the first plurality of base stations, a method for determining the need for an additional LMU so as to determine the geolocation, within the predetermined accuracy, of a mobile station associated with a second wireless communication system having a second plurality of base stations, comprising the steps of:

(a) modeling a coverage plan for the second wireless communication system using said LMUs to thereby simulate the accuracy of a geolocation determination of a mobile station associated with the second wireless communication system;

(b) evaluating the simulated accuracy against the predetermined accuracy and if the evaluation is unacceptable, modeling the coverage plan for the second wireless communication system using said LMUs and at least one additional LMU located at a base station associated with the second wireless communication system to thereby simulate the accuracy of the geolocation determination of the mobile station associated with the second wireless communication system; and

(c) repeating step (b) until the evaluation is acceptable to thereby determine the need for an additional LMU.

49. A network overlay geolocation system for locating a first mobile station associated with a first wireless communication system covering a geographic area, where the overlay system includes a GCS configured for tasking by a mobile positioning center (“

MPC”

) to locate the first mobile station, and further includes a plurality of LMUs for measuring an attribute of a signal emitted by the first mobile station, and where the geolocation of the first mobile station is estimated based in part on the measured attribute, the improvement wherein the geolocation system is configured to locate a second mobile station associated with a second wireless communication system covering at least a portion of the geographic area.

50. The system of claim 49 wherein the MPC comprises a first and second MPC, wherein the first MPC is configured to task the GCS to locate the first mobile station and the second MPC is configured to task the GCS to locate the second mobile station.

51. The system of claim 49 wherein the first wireless communication system is configured to communicate with the first mobile station over a first air interface and the second wireless communication system is configured to communicate with the second mobile station over a second air interface.

52. The system of claim 51 wherein the first air interface is different from the second air interface.

53. The system of claim 52 wherein the first air interface is a TIA air interface.

54. The system of claim 52 wherein the first air interface is an ETSI air interface.

55. The system of claim 49 further comprising a monitoring unit configured to obtain call set up information from the first and second wireless communication systems and configured to provide the call set up information to the GCS.

56. The system of claim 49 wherein the plurality of LMUs are configured to obtain measurements from both the first and second mobile stations.

57. The system of claim 49 wherein the first and second wireless communication systems operate over different frequency bands.

58. The system of claim 49 wherein the geolocation system is configured to locate a third mobile station associated with a third wireless communication system in the geographic area.