KOREA: This time, a development to report on from Korea, where in 2007 a patent was published for a new type of locator technology for a 'network-based Location measurement method...using P-Cell database'.
Not being a technical sort of guy, and this being a very new technology, I will leave it up to the engineers out there to correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is as follows:
This technology attempts to overcome the issues surrounding location triangulation using conventional Cell ID...namely, accuracy and reliance on operator network cell size parameters.
Instead, the new technology divides an area into pre-defined 'lattices'of a predetermined size which are mapped in a P-Cell database (where the P stands for Parametrized).
Then it continuously determines whether a request for location measurement occurs by a service subscriber; and when the request for location measurement is generated, it compares fundamental information received from a mobile terminal with the P-Cell database, determines a matching P-Cell, and reports the matching P-Cell to the service subscriber.
The advantages are that indoor location fixes are improved by about 70% (or so the technology patent says).
As far as I can determine, the system works like standard base tower signal triangulation (or trilateration, to be more precise) but instead of using the operator's cell tower signal radii, it uses 'lattices' of a standard dimension.
I have asked Tom Tierney from Navteq to shed more light on this technology and welcome any comments from readers who wish to add more information, particularly whether any testing has been carried out outside of Asia.
Either way, a key point is that location on mobile will increasingly become ubiqitous and most likely by offering subscribers a choice from a range of alternatives to ensure they can access location services wherever they may be.
