Method and system for locating a Femtocell using measurement reports
View Patent ↗A Femtocell measures power from a serving and/or neighboring base stations in a radio access network specified in, for example, 3GPP, 3GPP2 and/or WiMAX. The power measurements are transmitted over a broadband IP network to a location server coupled to an associated mobile core network. Related location information comprising reference positions and/or actual location of the Femtocell are received from the location server over the broadband IP network. The Femtocell generates measurement reports of a serving and/or neighboring base stations in the radio access network. The generated measurement reports are transmitted to the location server over the broadband IP network. The location server identifies the reference positions of the Femtocell from a reference database based on the received measurement reports for calculating the location of the Femtocell by the location server and/or by the Femtocell itself. The calculated location of the Femtocell is used to update the reference database.
1. A method for calculating location information indicating the geographic location of a femtocell in a radio access network, comprising:
performing power measurements, by a femtocell, of one or more base stations in a radio access network;
generating, at the femtocell, a measurement report from the power measurements;
transmitting, from the femtocell, the measurement report over a broadband Internet Protocol (IP) network to a location server connected to an associated mobile core network;
receiving, at the femtocell, location information based on the measurement report that indicates the geographic location of the femtocell from the location server over the broadband IP network;
storing, at the femtocell, the location information indicating the geographic location of the femtocell; and
using, at the femtocell, the measurement report for radio resource management,
wherein the power measurements include intra-frequency measurements, inter-frequency measurements, and inter-RAT measurements.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the radio access network is specified in at least one of 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2), and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX).
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the performing power measurements comprises performing power measurements of a serving base station and one or more neighboring base stations of the femtocell in the radio access network.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the location server identifies one or more reference positions corresponding to the one or more base stations based on the measurement report received from the femtocell, and calculates the location information indicating the geographic location of the femtocell based on the measurement report.
5. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:
retrieving, by the location server, the identified reference positions corresponding to the one or more base stations from a reference database in the location server.
6. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising:
updating the reference database in the location server based on the calculated location information indicating the geographic location of the femtocell.
7. A system for calculating location information indicating the geographic location of a femtocell in a radio access network, the system comprising:
a femtocell configured to:
perform power measurements of one or more base stations in a radio access network;
generate a measurement report from the power measurements;
transmit the measurement report over a broadband Internet Protocol (IP) network to a location server connected to an associated mobile core network;
receive one or more reference positions of the one or more base stations from the location server over the IP network, the one or more reference positions based on the measurement report;
calculate location information indicating the geographic location of the femtocell using the one or more reference positions of the one or more base stations;
store the location information indicating the geographic location of the femtocell; and
use the measurement report for radio resource management.
8. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the radio access network is specified in at least one of 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2), and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX).
9. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the power measurements comprise power measurements from a serving base station and one or more neighboring base stations of the femtocell in the radio access network.
10. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the location server is configured to identify the one or more reference positions of the one or more base stations based on the measurement report generated by the femtocell.
11. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the femtocell is further configured to retrieve the one or more reference positions of the one or more base stations from a reference database in the location server.
12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the femtocell is further configured to transmit the calculated location information indicating the geographic location of the femtocell to the location server over the broadband IP network.
13. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the power measurements include intra-frequency measurements, inter-frequency measurements, and inter-RAT measurements.
14. A method for calculating location information indicating the geographic location of a femtocell in a radio access network, comprising:
performing power measurements, by a femtocell, of one or more base stations in a radio access network;
generating, at the femtocell, a measurement report from the power measurements;
transmitting, from the femtocell, the measurement report over a broadband Internet Protocol (IP) network to a location server connected to an associated mobile core network;
receiving, at the femtocell, one or more reference positions of the one or more base stations from the location server over the IP network, the one or more reference positions based on the measurement report;
calculating, at the femtocell, location information indicating the geographic location of the femtocell using the received reference positions of the one or more base stations;
storing, at the femtocell, the location information indicating the geographic location of the femtocell; and
using, at the femtocell, the measurement report for radio resource management.
15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the location server identifies the one or more reference positions of the one or more base stations based on the measurement report transmitted by the femtocell.
16. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising:
retrieving the one or more reference positions of the one or more base stations from a reference database in the location server.
17. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising:
transmitting, from the femtocell, the location information indicating the geographic location of the femtocell to the location server over the broadband IP network.
18. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising:
storing, at the femtocell, the one or more reference positions of the one or more base stations in a reference database.
19. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the power measurements include intra-frequency measurements, inter-frequency measurements, and inter-RAT measurements.