A hybrid data fusion based cooperative localization approach for cellular networks

One of the major challenges of Cellular network based localization techniques is lack of hearability between mobile terminals (MTs) and base stations (BSs), thus the number of available anchors is limited. In order to solve the hearability problem, previous work assume some of the MTs have their location information via Global Positioning System (GPS). These located MT can be utilized to find the location of an un-located MT without GPS receiver. However, its performance is still limited by the number of available located MTs for cooperation. This paper consider a practical scenario that hearability is only possible between a MT and its home BS. Only one located MT together with the home BS are utilized to find the location of the un-located MT. A hybrid cooperative localization approach is proposed to combine time-of-arrival and received signal strength based fingerprinting techniques. It is shown in simulations that the proposed hybrid approach outperform the stand-alone time-of-arrival techniques or received signal strength based fingerprinting techniques in the considered scenario. It is also found that the proposed approach offer better accuracy with larger distance between the located MT and the home BS.