Chapter 8: IP Location in Wireless Public Carrier Networks

Overview

So far we have looked at how we can determine and provide location in enterprise and residential wireline environments. We have explored location determination techniques that can be employed in WiFi networks, both for fixed-WiFi and Wireless-Mesh networks. In this chapter, we will examine location determination and acquisition techniques that can be employed in wireless carrier networks that employ a range of IP-capable access technologies, including GPRS, 1xEVDO, and WiMAX. The chapter will conclude with a cursory examination of how IMS-based solutions can be employed to provide common services over a range of different access types.

Chapter 1 described the native location functionality that has been present in cellular networks for quite some time. Location capabilities that are built into the network infrastructure are referred to as "control-plane" location solutions. There are extensive control-plane location deployments in North America which have largely been driven by the need to support the FCC emergency service requirements for cellular networks. More recent events have seen the emergence of user-plane location protocols, such as the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) standard (see Reference 1 at the end of the chapter). SUPL seeks to use capabilities in IP-enabled handsets to reduce dependencies on roaming partners needing to support control-plane infrastructures. SUPL is described in Chapter 9, and Chapter 1 dealt with cellular control-plane location solutions. The remainder of this chapter will describe the basic wireless data access technologies and how the location determination and acquisition techniques we have described thus far in the book can be integrated to provide an optimal solution.