Research Summaries

Back Simultaneous Locating and Tracking of Large Numbers of 4G Mobile Devices

Fiscal Year 2013
Division Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department Electrical & Computer Engineering
Investigator(s) McEachen, II, John C.
Tummala, Murali
Sponsor National Reconnaissance Office (DoD)
Summary This proposal investigates a revolutionary new approach to simultaneously locating and tracking large numbers of 4G mobile users by taking advantage of improved features of the 4G signal. Mobile broadband adoption is occurring on a global scale faster than adoption of any other technology in history, including the adoption of 2G mobile phones. Long Term Evolution (LTE) and WiMax are two emerging and competing technologies for the next generation of mobile phones. Specifically, WiMax currently is available to over a billion people worldwide. Nationwide WiMax networks are already deployed and in use in countries like Pakistan, Iran, and Columbia. On the other hand, the ten largest mobile phone operators in the world have committed to LTE. The objective of this new research is to combine the use of a novel, previously developed precision 4G geolocation technique with a novel tracking algorithm and extend this to all users in a given region. This novel technique does not require signal measurements but is based on control messages sent by 4G basestations to subscribers for synchronization purposes. This approach leverages prior knowledge of mobile phone geolocation techniques and Hidden Markov Model (HMM) tracking with new knowledge of the 4G signals. Validation will be conducted with actual traffic from field testing at Yuma Proving Ground and on public networks as appropriate.
Keywords
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Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal