PROVIDERS TAKE Baby Steps - Automatic location identification

Telecommunications,  June, 2001  by Ted McKenna

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Rather than enjoying an easy birth, location-based technology is being dragged into this world kicking and screaming. It certainly seems like a good idea: Find the nearest restaurant or cinema; keep track of children or expensive cargo like semiconductors. Besides, pinpointing mobile locations can save lives, hence the E911 mandate by the FCC. To date, though, the technological difficulties--and the costs--associated with locating mobile phones have held back service deployment.

So what drives carriers to deploy the technology is not the promise of revenue but the need to provide 911 mobile locations as required by the FCC. As Cahners In-Stat senior analyst Alan Nogee says, "If carriers thought they could get enormous revenue from these services, they would have been moving as quickly as possible to offer them. But they're not doing that."

Wireless carriers face an Oct. 1 FCC deadline to begin providing ALI (automatic location identification), along with subsequent deadlines requiring higher and higher percentages of customers whose locations can be determined. At least 25 percent of all new handsets activated must be ALI-capable by Dec. 31. This requirement rises to 50 percent by June 30, 2002, then 100 percent by Dec. 31 of that year. By Dec. 31, 2005, each carrier must have ALI-capable phones in the hands of 95 percent of its subscribers.

Carriers can choose either handset-based or network-based solutions, both of which offer advantages and disadvantages. Handset-based solutions offer greater accuracy, as reflected in the FCC requirement that 67 percent of all E911 calls involving handset-based solutions be located within 50 meters and 95 percent within 150 meters. In comparison, the FCC will require 67 percent of emergency calls involving network-based solutions to be located within 100 meters and 95 percent of such calls located within 300 meters.

Handset-based solutions--specifically those involving assisted GPS (global positioning system)--sometimes have trouble getting satellite fixes in urban canyons or within buildings. Network-based solutions such as TDOA (time difference of arrival) require communications with three cell towers or base stations--or in the case of AQA (angle of arrival), two base stations--which is not always possible, especially in rural areas. So-called "fingerprinting" network-based solutions being developed by companies such as U.S. Wireless need contact with just one base station but require complex calculations by location equipment and constant updates on buildings or other new structures affecting radio signal transmission.

Tough Choices

Handset-based solutions are less expensive for carriers, since subscribers assume most of the cost upfront, buying either an accessory to retrofit existing phones or new phones with built-in GPS chips. But an assisted GPS accessory can cost as much as $200--hardly a mass-market price. Nokia, Ericsson and other handset makers are looking at embedding GPS technology into their phones, but that would still add $30 to $40 to the price of each handset.

Network-based solutions, meanwhile, don't require such retrofitting of existing handsets or the purchase of specially built ones, making any existing phones on the network locatable. Expense for carriers is considerable, as network-based solutions require installation of equipment on virtually every base station and cell tower within the network at a cost that, depending on network size, could run into millions or even billions of dollars, according to Bill Dyer, director of new ventures for Alcatel's network application division, which has developed a server for processing mobile location information.

Some carriers are opting for network-based solutions because they can be introduced only in areas where PSAPs (public safety answering points) have been equipped to handle mobile location information. In opting for the handset-based solution, carriers would be equipping subscribers with the more expensive ALI-capable handsets even in places where the local PSAP can't process the information.

Last winter, carriers began releasing information about what location technology they intend to use, but so far have not announced deals with equipment providers, only trials. Implementing mobile location technology involves many parties: the carrier, switching manufacturer, location technology company, service bureau, and the PSAP. Sprint PCS, in a report to the FCC on its implementation plans, called the technological challenges to developing a wireless location system "phenomenal," and the attendant administrative, logistical and financial issues "even more formidable."

Because of the technology's complexity and relative novelty, carriers are making plans carefully, not wanting to commit themselves too quickly. Wireless carriers at this point are very secretive," says Benoit Rungeard, director of marketing communication for Televigation, a developer of LBS (location-based services) applications. "They don't like to tell too much."