Estimation of base station position using timing advance measurements

Timing Advance is used in TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) systems, such as GSM and LTE, to synchronize the mobile phone to the cellular BS (Base Station). Mobile phone positioning can use TA measurements if BS positions are known, but in many cases BS positions are not in the public domain. In this work we study how to use a set of TA measurements taken by mobile phones at known positions to estimate the position of a BS. This paper describes two methods -- GMF (Gaussian Mixture Filter) and PMF (Point Mass Filter) for estimation of the BS position. Positioning performance is evaluated using simulated and real measurements. In suburban field tests, TA measurements suffice to determine BS position with an error comparable to the TA granularity (550m). GMF computes BS position much faster than PMF and is only slightly less accurate.