Work

Enabling Physical Localization of Uncooperative Cellular Devices

Year: 2024

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: In cellular networks, authorities may need to physically locate user devices to track criminals or illegal equipment. This process involves authorized agents tracing devices by monitoring uplink signals with cellular operator assistance. However, tracking uncooperative uplink signal sources remains challenging, even for operators and authorities. Three key challenges persist for fine-grained localization: i) devices must generate sufficient, consistent uplink traffic over time, ii) target devices may transmit uplink signals at very low power, and iii) signals from cellular repeaters may hinder localization of the target device. While these challenges pose significant practical obstacles to localization, they have been largely overlooked in existing research.

Source: Proceedings of the 28th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing And Networking

DOI: 10.1145/3636534.3690709