EURASIP Journal on Applied Signal Processing 
Volume 2006 (2006), Article ID 42737, 11 pages
doi:10.1155/ASP/2006/42737

A New Position Location System Using DTV Transmitter Identification Watermark Signals

Xianbin Wang,1 Yiyan Wu,1 and Jean-Yves Chouinard2

 1Communications Research Centre Canada, 3701 Carling Avenue, Ottawa K2H 8S2, ON, Canada
2Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Laval University, G1K 7P4, QC, Canada
Received 30 May 2005; Revised 30 January 2006; Accepted 9 March 2006

Abstract

A new position location technique using the transmitter identification (TxID) RF watermark in the digital TV (DTV) signals is proposed in this paper. Conventional global positioning system (GPS) usually does not work well inside buildings due to the high frequency and weak field strength of the signal. In contrast to the GPS, the DTV signals are received from transmitters at relatively short distance, while the broadcast transmitters operate at levels up to the megawatts effective radiated power (ERP). Also the RF frequency of the DTV signal is much lower than the GPS, which makes it easier for the signal to penetrate buildings and other objects. The proposed position location system based on DTV TxID signal is presented in this paper. Practical receiver implementation issues including nonideal correlation and synchronization are analyzed and discussed. Performance of the proposed technique is evaluated through Monte Carlo simulations and compared with other existing position location systems. Possible ways to improve the accuracy of the new position location system is discussed.