Mobile telephone location system and method

A method of locating a transceiver unit, comprising the steps of:

• providing an agile vector sensor unit at each fixed antenna site in a wireless communication network;
• determining the active antenna site for a selected transceiver unit which is currently in use;
• determining neighboring antenna sites within a predetermined area of the active antenna site;
• activating the agile vector sensor units of the active antenna site and neighboring antenna sites to transmit information to a central monitoring station;
• using the agile vector sensor unit at each of the active and neighboring antenna sites to scan the forward control and communication channels at each antenna site and determine an initial reverse communication channel and any changes in reverse communication channel for the selected transceiver unit;
• tuning a scanning device of the agile vector sensor unit at the active antenna site to the initial reverse communication channel and any subsequent new communication channels;
• determining azimuth and signal strength of reverse communication channel signals received from the selected transceiver unit using the agile vector sensor unit at the active antenna site;
• storing the azimuth, signal strength, and current reverse communication channel of the selected transceiver unit at the agile vector sensor unit of the active antenna site;
• transmitting a record comprising the azimuth, signal strength, and current reverse communication channel to the central monitoring station at predetermined intervals so that location of a selected transceiver unit may be determined continuously;
• controlling the agile vector sensor units at each neighboring antenna site to tune into the current reverse communication channel of the selected transceiver unit and determine azimuth and signal strength of the reverse communication channel signal of the selected transceiver unit at each neighboring antenna site;
• transmitting a record comprising the azimuth and signal strength for the current reverse communication channel at each neighboring antenna site to the central monitoring station at predetermined intervals;
• re-tuning each of the agile vector sensor units to the new reverse communication channel each time a change in reverse communication channel is detected to determine and collect signal strength and azimuth inforination for the new reverse communication channel;
• and
• determining an approximate x and y coordinate position from the azimuth and signal strength information received from the activated agile vector sensor units.