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Real estate, they say, is all about location, location, location. That is quickly becoming true of wireless communications as well. Technology and market trends and government regulations are all converging to create a new set of capabilities for mobile phone and smartphone users, not to mention a new market for mobile operators and providers of location-based technologies and services. In this article, the first of a three-part series, we'll look at the movers and shakers driving and technology behind this emerging market.
e911 Although deadlines for operators to meet FCC e911 requirements have been postponed on more than one occasion, most carriers are now close to complying with Phase II e911 regulations. And while regulated location accuracy isn't quite optimal for some commercial applications, it helps set the stage for the long-anticipated blooming of a location-based industry for the mobile market.
GPS In Hand Before we continue, here's the short course on how "traditional" GPS works: A GPS receiver gathers pulsed signals from as many of the two dozen or so GPS satellites orbiting the earth as it can lock in. Using triangulation -- by measuring and comparing the travel time of individual signals -- the receiver calculates its position, and it's accurate to within twenty yards or so. Handhelds with built-in GPS chipsets—designed primarily for turn-by-turn navigation applications—started to appear a couple of years ago.
Garmin Ltd., MiTAC International Corp. and others have Pocket PC and Palm-based products in this category.
 iPAQ hw6500
Revenues In the Asia-Pacific market, where 10 million handset users already subscribe to LBS, the total number of subscribers by 2010 will top 67 million.
Directionless Operators For operators, providing positioning information for e911 was an unanticipated cost of doing business that they were in no great hurry to incur. However they choose to meet e911 requirements - and there are two distinct ways of doing it - it was going to cost money. Furthermore, the technology was not immediately available and, when it was, it sometimes didn't work as advertised. except the operators. The operators just didn't make the move."
GPS Technologies
Galileo It's a project of the European Union (EU), with additional funding from other countries, including China. The EU did not want to rely on a positioning system controlled by the U.S. military, a solution that might be compromised in wartime. Galileo devices will be interoperable with GPS and should provide greater accuracy than GPS alone. The satellites won't all be deployed until at least 2008, though.
Thematic Variation The principal difference in the variants in both cases has to do with where the technology resides. With A-GPS, the handset includes a chipset with radio and antenna to receive the raw GPS data from the satellites, but it transmits this data to the local cell site for processing—which involves looking up the position of each satellite in an almanac and then calculating position of the device based on timing data. A pure GPS device such as the Garmin's Pocket PCs and Palm-based products do all the processing in the device.
Advantages, Disadvantages Each of these technologies has its advantages and disadvantages and cost benefits. In terms of performance, the satellite-based systems deliver superior positioning accuracy. They're able to locate a device in optimal conditions—if it's in the middle of a field with no trees around—down to as little as 10 feet. "That's pretty darn good," Hyers says. "But it points up one of the big issues around GPS and A-GPS. In less than optimal situations where line of sight to the satellite is blocked or occluded, such is in a heavily built-up urban center, they may not get very good reception." The network-based systems deliver much less in the way of accuracy, and this is reflected in FCC e911 regulations. They require handset-based solutions (basically A-GPS) to locate devices within 50 meters for 67 percent of calls and 150 meters for 95 percent of calls. Network-based solutions are only required to locate devices within 100 meters for 67 percent of calls, 300 meters for 95 percent of calls. GPS and to a lesser extent A-GPS clearly have the biggest impact on handheld devices, in particular on the economics for manufacturers. On the other hand, A-GPS and pure network-based positioning systems require a much greater investment in technology at each cell site or tower.
Lowering Costs "Handset vendors literally look at pennies: it's such a cut-throat competitive business," Hyers asserts. "I've heard them debate whether to include a six cent data port. So the difference between a dollar and $8 is huge." Costs for GPS chipsets will come down, though; they may have already from some vendors. And GSM manufacturers will begin installing GPS in handsets to meet the needs of new LBS applications such as turn-by-turn navigation, Hyers states.
What First? "You'll always have that issue with any new technology," Solis says. "They [LBS providers and manufacturers] obviously have to come together and time out their solutions together." In the U.S., virtually all CDMA network operators are using A-GPS. They have been selling handsets with Qualcomm's gpsOne chipset for the past 18 months. Nextel, the only iDEN operator, and an LBS pioneer, is also using A-GPS. The FCC requires operators using handset-based solutions to have 95 percent of their installed base of handsets able to use the e911 system by the end of the year. Some, possibly all operators, will fall short and have to request waivers, according to Hyers. The GSM operators, meanwhile, are all using some form of network-based positioning technology, mainly U-TDOA.
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