A Review Of Mobile Phone GPS Tracking

Some important technical features and functions related to GPS mobile phone tracking to think about include: Tracking Application “Persistence”. The tracking application on a handset typically must be enabled by the user. Depending on the cell phone, the application may persist – remaining enabled when the phone is turned on after having been turned off. This feature can be particularly important if mobile phone tracking is relevant and you do not want to instruct the person using the phone to turn tracking on and off. Another thing relevant to Tracking Application “Persistence” and mobile phone GPS location is the potential of draining the battery. It is important to be able to remotely adjust how often of taking GPS position. Choosing real-time or periodic sampling affects both the accuracy of determining position along with battery life. One common means of controlling battery and data use is Passive Tracking. Some cell phone GPS tracking devices will record location data internally so that it can be downl

oaded when convenient. Also referred to as “data logging,” it can maintain location information even when the device has traveled outside the wireless network. Passive tracking is not a universal feature built-in to standard handset, but the hottest smartphones tend to have Passive tracking features.

Much of the discussion surrounding GPS tracking, cell phone GPS and cell phone track software could be helped by a GPS Satellite primer.

GPS satellites broadcast signals from space that GPS receivers utilize to determine three-dimensional location (latitude, longitude, and altitude) plus precise time. GPS is an acronym for Global Positioning System and is a system that is composed of 3 main segments: Space Segment, Control Segment and User Segment.

The GPS Space Segment is comprised of twenty-four to thirty-two satellites that orbit the earth at a height of about 12,000 miles. These satellites are also known as as the GPS Constellation, and they are orbiting once every 12 hours. They are not geosynchronous, they travel at over 7,000 mph. They are solar powered but have battery backup for when they are on the dark side of the earth. They are positioned so that at any given time there are at least 4 satellites ?visible? from any point on earth. Small rocket boosters on each satellite keep them flying in the correct path. The satellites last about ten years until all their fuel runs out.

GPS Satellites are not communications satellites. Geostationary or communications satellites use a higher altitude 22,300 miles above the equator. These satellites are used for weather forecasting, satellite TV, satellite radio and most other types of global communications. At exactly 22,000 miles above the equator, the earth’s gravitational force and centrifugal forces are canceled and are in equilibrium. This is the best location to place a communications satellite. The earth rotates at about 1,000 miles an hour, and because of their high earth orbit the geo-synchronous satellites need to travel at about 7,000 mph to keep position. This is approximately the same speed as GPS satellites, but since earth-synchronous satellites are 10,000 miles further away they stay in place relative to the earth.

The GPS Control Segment made up of Master Control Station, an Alternate Master Control Station, and a host of dedicated and shared Ground Antennas and Monitor Stations that work together to make sure the satellites are functioning to specification and the information they send to earth is accurate.

The GPS User Segment includes of GPS receivers taking the shape of cell phones and , laptops, in-car navigation devices and hand-held tracking units along with the people that use them, and the software programs that make them function.

GPS receivers often take a long time to become ready to navigate after it’s turned on because it must acquire some basic information in addition to finding GPS satellite signals. This slow start can be caused if the GPS mobile phone has been turned off for days or weeks, or has been transported a significant distance while turned off for. The GPS must update its almanac and ephemeris data and store it in memory. The GPS almanac is a set of data that every GPS satellite transmits. When a GPS receiver has current almanac data in memory, it can acquire satellite signals and compute initial position faster.

Another method of formulating mobile phone location is Triangulation or Mobile Location Services (MLS). Cell Tower Triangulation uses signal analysis data to compute the time it takes signals to travel from your phone to a minimum of 3 cell towers to determine position.

With Mobile Location Services (MLS), the GSM cell network provider uses triangulation algorithms to compute the location of the cell phone, its accuracy is proven to be much worse than that of GPS. MLS is also affected by the same issues as GPS in the sense of the interference impeding signal strength and the density of GSM towers to help in the triangulation calculation. In remote areas location accuracy may be off as much as a mile.

A Review Of Mobile Phone GPS Tracking