Time of arrival estimation of narrowband TDMA signals for mobile positioning

Abstract

Positioning services in cellular systems have received increased attention recently. Solutions of the positioning problem requiring time and angle of arrival measurements have been proposed. The problem of estimating the time of arrival (TOA) of the line of sight (LOS) component of narrowband digital signals in a multipath environment is addressed. A TOA estimation algorithm designed to operate under low SNR is proposed. The algorithm combats multipath propagation by exploiting the fading statistics of the mobile channel. Performance of the algorithm obtained through simulations using COST propagation models for GSM and IS-136 signals is shown and is promising.