Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

Phone signals can help you find your way in cities even without GPS

Existing telecommunications infrastructure could operate as a miniaturized global positioning system, offering submetre resolution in urban areas and indoors, where location information from satellites is often inaccurate.
  1. Hui Chen

    1. Hui Chen is in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Henk Wymeersch

    1. Henk Wymeersch is in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

It’s hard to imagine ever consulting a paper map again. The information provided by global navigation satellite systems, such as the United States’ GPS or China’s BeiDou, has changed how we find our way in the world. But the little blue dot that represents this information on our smartphone screens often shows up far away from our actual location, especially in urban areas, tunnels or indoors. This is largely because satellite signals are weak and easily blocked by obstacles, or are sometimes even jammed intentionally. Writing in Nature, Koelemeij et al.1 show that telecommunications networks can overcome this problem by providing a terrestrial positioning system that does not rely on satellites.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 611, 454-455 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03696-3

References

  1. Koelemeij, J. C. J. et al. Nature 611, 473–478 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Hofmann-Wellenhof, B., Lichtenegger, H. & Wasle, E. GNSS–Global Navigation Satellite Systems: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, And More (Springer, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  3. del Peral-Rosado, J. A., Raulefs, R., López-Salcedo, J. A. & Seco-Granados, G. IEEE Commun. Surv. Tut. 20, 1124–1148 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Kassas, Z. Z. M., Khalife, J., Shamaei, K. & Morales, J. IEEE Signal Proc. Mag. 34, 111–124 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Zafari, F., Gkelias, A. & Leung, K. K. IEEE Commun. Surv. Tut. 21, 2568–2599 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Koivisto, M. et al. IEEE Trans. Wireless Commun. 16, 2866–2881 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Witrisal, K. et al. IEEE Signal Process. Mag. 33, 59–70 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Mendrzik, R., Wymeersch, H., Bauch, G. & Abu-Shaban, Z. IEEE Trans. Wireless Commun. 18, 93–107 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Guerra, A., Guidi, F., Dardari, D. & Djurić, P. M. IEEE Trans. Signal Proc. 69, 5723–5738 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Elzanaty, A., Guerra, A., Guidi, F. & Alouini, M.-S. IEEE Trans. Signal Proc. 69, 5386–5402 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links