Location methods for legacy GSM handsets using coverage prediction

In this work several methods for the location of legacy GSM handsets are compared. These methods use data available in the mobile station measurement report - communication channel server identity, received power levels from the serving and neighbor cells, received signal quality - and time alignment with the server. It is discussed how these parameters can be used for mobile station positioning. A new approach for the cell identity plus time alignment method, using propagation modeling, is proposed. The efficiency of radio-frequency fingerprint correlation using coverage prediction maps of different resolutions is also analyzed. Field tests were conducted to evaluate the methods in real scenarios.