A Look At Smartphone GPS Tracking

Some worthwhile technical capabilities relevant to GPS cell tracking to consider include: Tracking Application “Persistence”. The tracking application on a handset usually 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 especially handy if mobile phone tracking is important 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 smartphone GPS tracking is the potential of battery drain. It is important to be able to remotely adjust the frequency of taking GPS position. Choosing real-time or periodic sampling affects both the resolution of finding position along with battery life. One common way of minimizing battery and data use is Passive Tracking. Some handset GPS tracking devices will store location data internally so that it can be downloaded later. Also known as “data logging,” it 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 mobile phone, but the most recent mobiles tend to include Passive tracking ability.

A lot of the discussion surrounding GPS tracking, mobile GPS and cell phone tracking 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 stands for Global Positioning System and is a network that is made up of 3 primary segments: Space Segment, Control Segment and User Segment.

The GPS Space Segment includes twenty-four to thirty-two satellites that orbit the earth in medium earth orbit MEO. These satellites are also known as as the GPS Constellation, and they are orbiting twice a day. They are not geosynchronous, but rather move at over 7,000 mph. GPS satellites 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 properly positioned. 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 are parked in space 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 offset and are in equilibrium. This is the best location to place a stationary 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 sustain 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 incorporates 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 data they send to earth is accurate.

The GPS User Segment is comprised of of GPS receivers taking the shape of mobile 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 compute position by precisely timing the signals sent by GPS satellites. This data includes the time the message was transmitted, precise orbital information (the ephemeris), and the general system health and rough orbits of all GPS satellites (the almanac).

If satellite signals are not readily available, or accuracy and precision is less important than battery life, using Cell-ID is a useful substitute to GPS cell phone tracking. The location of the cell phone might be approximated by the cellular network cell id, which determines the cell tower the cellphone is connected to. By understanding the location of the tower, you may know roughly the location where the handset might be. Nonetheless, a tower can cover a massive area, from a couple of hundred meters, in higher populationdensity locations, to a few kilometers in lower density areas. This is the reason location CellID accuracy is less than than GPS accuracy. Nonetheless location from CellID still provides quite a good substitute.

A Look At Smartphone GPS Tracking