Positioning principles with a mobile TV system using DVB-SH signals and a Single Frequency Network

Abstract : Mobile receiver positioning has received a lot of attention, both in research and standardization bodies, due to regulatory (E-911) or commercial (Location-Based Services) incentives. This paper investigates the possibility of self-positioning a mobile receiver using a mobile TV broadcasting system based on the European DVB-SH standard. This OFDM-based standard offers the interesting possibility of using a Single Frequency Network (SFN) of emitters, meaning that the transmitters are synchronized, which is extremely precious for navigation applications based on Time of Arrival measurements. This paper proposes to base our positioning service on the use of the estimation of the channel done by the receiver, in order to use Time Differences of Arrival techniques. In order to detect several emitters in a SFN, it is proposed to introduce artificial delays between adjacent emitters. The impact of this modification is investigated and some particular DVB-SH signal parameters are found to be well-suited to this solution.