Cellphone Localization in Austere and remote Environments (CLARE)

As cellphones have become ubiquitous, there is a growing interest in the potential to harness their radio frequency energy to assist in Search And Rescue SAR operations. Techniques to locate cellphones have significant shortcomings for operations in remote areas with little or no cellphone coverage, such as national parks, remote border areas, or waterways or seas. Furthermore, in all cellular technologies including 3G, 4G and upcoming 5G systems, the User Equipment UE is required to receive a reliable downlink control signal and system information before it can transmit any signal or message in the uplink, which means that in areas without cell coverage, cellphones will emit no RF, even if a call is initiated. We propose to develop the Cellphone Localization in Austere and Remote Environments CLARE system. CLARE directs UEs to transmit signals in the uplink. CLARE technology will be platform agnostic. For the US Coast Guard, CLARE can be deployed to any number of shore units, small patrol boats to larger cutters. In addition, airborne platforms that may use CLARE include helicopters, C27,C130 and C144 aircraft and small UAS. CLARE will use a variety of RF geolocation techniques exploiting both coherent, and incoherent features of the UE signal., and incorporate GPS and IMU sensors for selflocalization. CLARE will minimize disruption to the network, will not invade users privacy, and will not require a warrant to operate.