Improving Mobile Phone Location Data Within Buildings

Published on: 1st Jan 1970: 1:33am

­A new product from CommScope can make it easier for emergency services personnel to locate mobile phone users inside large buildings. Unlike landline phones that are pinpointed to specific places within large structures such as office buildings and hotels, the specific location of a wireless device often cannot be determined more precisely than the building in which it is in use.

In skyscrapers or similar buildings, this can cause great difficulty for rescuers trying to respond to a distress call made via a mobile device when the caller is unable to accurately provide a specific location, such as floor number, room location or other information necessary for emergency personnel.

The company's new product, the GeoLENs Indoor location solution integrates with wireless indoor coverage systems including distributed antenna systems (DAS), repeaters, and other RF equipment.

"Just as wireless coverage and capacity inside large public venues has attracted significant attention and resources so, too, are indoor location solutions," said John Baker, vice president and general manager, Wireless Network Solutions, CommScope. "It's an interest due to both a public safety concern and a commercial opportunity."

GeoLENs Indoor can be deployed with existing DAS infrastructure or as a stand alone indoor location solution and offers the advantage of working with existing handsets.

The GeoLENs Indoor solution operates by determining a caller's proximity to signal detection devices and other network components that are part or independent of the in-building coverage system. The company expects deployments to occur first in large public venues such as stadiums, office buildings, malls, airports, and hospitals.

CommScope says that it has already deployed GeoLENs Indoor in an unnamed U.S. Tier I network to provide locations in an airport, high rise office building, and urban canyon environment.

 

Tags: [emergency]  [emergency services]