GSM Mobile Phone Tracking System

Global System for Mobile communications, popularly abbreviated as GSM, is a popular standard for mobile phones, used vastly across the world. According to the estimates made by the GSM Association, the promoter of GSM, 80% of the global market uses the GSM standard mobile phones. In GSM enabled mobile phones, the signaling and speech channels are digital and thus it is regarded as a Second Generation or 2G mobile phone system.

The GSM mobile phone tracking system, more often referred to as GSM localization, is a cell phone tracking system which uses the hyperbolic positioning process to determine the exact location of a GSM enabled cell phone, thus indirectly tracking its user. In hyperbolic positioning, a particular object is accurately located by computing the time difference in arrival of the signals that are emitted from the object to three or more receivers. There are three methods of GSM mobile phone tracking, viz. network based mobile phone tracking system, handset based mobile phone tracking system and hybrid mobile phone tracking system.

Network Based GSM Mobile Phone Tracking System
In network based mobile phone tracking, the service providers network infrastructure is used to determine the exact location of the GSM enabled handset. The levels of accuracy in the network based techniques vary, with cell identification method being the least accurate and the triangulation method being the most accurate. Network based techniques can be implemented without intruding the private space of the person who is being tracked, which is its biggest advantage. This technique requires one to work closely with the service provider, as the process includes installation of various software and hardware in the network infrastructure. The cooperation needed from the service provider sometimes acts as the biggest challenge faced in this technique, which may require the help of legislation.

Handset Based GSM Mobile Phone Tracking System
In the handset based technique, the location of the GSM enabled handset is determined by cell identification, strength of the signals and latitudinal and longitudinal demarcation, if the handset is equipped with GPS. The calculations are sent to the location server for precise information about the user's location. This technology requires the installation of a client software on the mobile phone, which acts as its biggest drawback, since it's difficult to install a software on a mobile phone without the user's consent. More importantly, the software has to be compatible with various operating systems. The technique works only on smart phones, which is again a major drawback in this cell phone tracking system.

Hybrid GSM Mobile Phone Tracking System
A combination of various techniques used in network-based and handset-based methods is used for phone tracking in the hybrid GSM mobile phone tracking method. For instance, Assisted GPS uses both GPS as well as network data to determine the exact location of the user. Though this method gives the most accurate information, its advantages are sometimes overshadowed by the limitations and challenges faced by network-based and handset-based techniques, which together form the hybrid method.

Over the years, cell phone tracking has become much more easier, owing to various cell phone tracking devices, but the privacy issues regarding the technology are also mushrooming. It has become the biggest disadvantage of the system, wherein people oppose the technique, claiming that it hampers their privacy. In order to tackle these problems, to make it safe and suitable, the extent to which this technology can be used, has been demarcated by a legal framework.