GPS is coming into your GSM

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What is the benefit of integrating GPS and GSM?

Earlier when all phones were at the end of the wires their user was easy to locate. Location based services were almost useless. Only the emergency calls had to be located to get the address of the emergency. Nowadays when wireless phones such as GSM have became in common use it has made a new problem to solve. Plenty of phone calls begin with words "Where are you?". It's not rare that the one who is calling doesn't even know his exact location. So there is clearly need and interest to have a positioning service. The question is that how should it be done?

If we integrate these two technologies, GSM and GPS, we have a great benefit. It makes a mobile phone that can be located or it could be location device that we can use as a phone. If GPS doesn't work it would be useful to have a phone that could also use some network based location method. The best benefit of the integration is that there won't be many devices that have to be carried with. The PDA-devices (Personal Digital Assistant) will need both of these services, they need access to internet and this could be done by GSM technology. There will also be location based services in internet which means that these PDA-devices should be able to locate themselves.

There is also a GSM-assisted GPS which means that GSM-network is sending assisting signal to the GPS-receiver. It tells receiver all the satellites that are able to be seen over horizon. Cold start of the receiver will be much faster than without GSM-assistance. The time should drop from few minutes to under 20 seconds. And working environment should expand from outdoors to indoors. Receiver only needs a window out to work properly.

 

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Basics | Benefits | Services | For Whom? | Limitations | Summary | Links | Authors of this site