GPS on cell phones is what consumers generally consider when investigating tracking smartphones. GPS (Global Positioning System) utilizing satellites is the most common and more accurate technology of tracking. Still, GPS needs satellites to be in direct line of site of the cell phone. It doesn’t work really well indoors or in dense cities. In the event that the device is inside a structure, for instance your house, restaurant, or often sitting in an automobile the signals may well not get to the smartphone. Occasionally thick cloud cover and dense foliage impedes with signals. Some cell phones will hold on to the last identified GPS location, others may not.
A couple of important technical capabilities related to GPS cell tracking to think about include: Tracking Application “Persistence”. The tracking software on a handset typically must be enabled by the user. Depending on the device, the application may persist – remaining enabled when the phone is turned on after having been turned off. This feature can be particularly usefull if cell tracking is worthwhile and you do not want to require the person using the phone to turn tracking on and off. Another thing related to Tracking Application “Persistence” and cell phone GPS tracking is the potential of battery drain. It is important to be able to remotely adjust the frequency of taking GPS position. Selecting real-time or periodic sampling affects both the resolution of determining position as well as battery life. One typical method of minimizing battery and data use is Passive Tracking. Some mobile phone GPS tracking devices will store location data internally so that it can be downloaded when convenient. Also
known as “data logging,” which can keep location information even when the device has traveled outside the wireless network. Passive tracking is not a universal feature built-in to standard smartphone, but the most up-to-date mobile phones tend to have Passive tracking ability.
A lot of the discussion surrounding cell tracking, mobile GPS and mobile phone tracking software could be helped by a GPS Satellite primer.
GPS satellites broadcast signals from space that GPS receivers utilize to provide three-dimensional location (latitude, longitude, and altitude) plus precise time. GPS stands for Global Positioning System and is a system that is made up of 3 main segments: Space Segment, Control Segment and User Segment.
The GPS Space Segment includes 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 parked over one spot, but rather move at over 7,000 mph. GPS satellites are solar powered but have battery reserve for when they are in the earth?s shadow. They are placed so that 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 have a lifetime of about 10 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 force of gravity and centrifugal forces are offset and are in balance. This is the ideal location to place a communications satellite. The earth rotates at about 1,000 miles an hour, and because of their high earth orbit the earth-synchronous satellites need to move at about 7,000 mph to maintain position. This is just about the same speed as GPS satellites, but since stationary satellites are 10,000 miles further away they stay in place relative to the earth.
The GPS Control Segment is composed of Master Control Station, an Alternate Master Control Station, and numerous 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 devices and , laptops, in-car navigation devices and hand-held tracking units along with the people that use them, and the software applications that make them function.
GPS receivers, regardless of whether in a smartphone, or a spucific Portable gps tracking device, determine specific location through process of accurately timing the signals passed on by GPS satellites. This critical information contains the time the message was sent, precise orbital details (formally referenced as the ephemeris), along with the basic system state and estimated orbits of all GPS satellites (technically referred to as the almanac).
Another way of determining cell phone position is Triangulation or Mobile Location Services (MLS). Cell Tower Triangulation utilizes signal analysis data to compute the time it takes signals to travel from the mobile phone to at least three cell towers to calculate position.
With Mobile Location Services (MLS), the GSM cell network provider uses triangulation techniques to calculate the position of the cell phone, its accuracy is proven to be much worse than that of GPS. MLS is also affected by factors similar to GPS in the sense of the interference impeding signal quality and the density of GSM towers to help in the triangulation effort. In remote areas position accuracy may be off as much as a mile.
Intro To Smartphone GPS Tracking
