Can UMTS mobile location be tracked?
The wideband nature of the UTRA/FDD facilitates the high resolution in position location. The duration of one chip (3.84Mcps) correspond to approximately 78 meters in propagation distance. If the delay estimation operates on the accuracy of samples/chip then the achievable maximum accuracy is approximately 20 meters. There are other inaccuracies that will cause degradation to the positioning but 20 meters can be considered as best possible positioning performance. UMTS specifies that it will provide location information for mobiles to an accuracy of 50m. With GPS assistance, maybe even 10 meter accuracy is possible.
