Positioning emergency calls along roads and motorways using a GSM dedicated cellular radio network

This paper presents a new alert and emergency warning system (EWS) concept based on a dedicated cellular radio network operated along highways and motorways. By offering some of the services defined under the intelligent transport system (ITS) initiative, it aims at enhancing and improving road safety. Some specific radio coverage aspects of this infrastructure are examined. Along this dedicated cellular network, the distress call location accuracy requirements are analyzed. The authors compare, in the context of cellular systems, different positioning techniques, derived from current research, including synchronization requirements and performance in multipath environment in order to define and evaluate the best approach for this specific system architecture.