Application of Trilateration Principle in Determining Optimal Call Locations

Abstract

The trilateration principle, from a surveying or geomatics perspective, has significant applications in numerous industries, including the telecommunications sector. Because the navigation and wireless positioning techniques rely on electromagnetic energy propagated through the antenna and other communication devices mounted on telecoms tower (mast), the intersection of the signal circles of influence emanating from the masts installed in relation to each other on the Earth’s surface plays a crucial role in determining the precise location of a mobile phone in order to make calls optimally. In this paper, we solved the trilateration algorithm problem using a function that accommodates twenty-seven (27) parameters in Python programming environment. The eight masts involved were paired into set of threes to form the interactions which produces the intersection point coordinates outputs. Mast 1 has the longest radius of length (476m) while mast 5 has the shortest radius of length (148m) from their respective circle centre. The intersection points of the cell tower’s signals were discovered to be at the following coordinates: (789138.305E, 708318.903N; 789452.452E, 708368.940N; and 790157.613E, 707791.055N), which allowed the identification of three locations as the best positions for exhibiting optimised cell phone calls.