Design and validation of cellular aerial base station platform for mobile phone localisation in search and rescue : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Electronic and Computer Engineering at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
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2023
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Massey University
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Natural and man-made disasters can trap victims under rubble and debris, and it is generally up to nearby civilians and Search and Rescue (SAR) teams to locate and extricate these victims. The aftermath of disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and terrorist attacks can be quite dangerous. Paired with the frantic nature of search and rescue, this environment can be chaotic (Charfuelan and Kruijff 2013). Additionally, there is no international ‘protocol’ which defines how these SAR operations should be carried out (Statheropoulos, Agapiou et al. 2015). Consequently, search efforts are often unorganised until dedicated SAR teams can take over from those helping in the immediate vicinity (Bäckström and Christoffersson 2006, Spence, So et al. 2011). Current methods for locating trapped victims after earthquakes and similar events is largely restricted to equipment that is expensive, bulky, and difficult to mobilise. This is especially apparent in poorer, disaster-prone areas. There is a clear opportunity to develop a system that capitalises on the disadvantages of the existing equipment, whilst also exploiting the prevalence of mobile phones. Although there is existing research that has proposed cellular-based localisation solutions, these systems are quite complex. Some of these complex systems utilise complex principles and algorithms to locate mobile phones. There appears to be a distinct lack of proposed solutions that utilise signal-strength-based metrics for localisation. Measuring signal-strength-based metrics of cellular channels has potential to locate victims in search and rescue scenarios. However, there are many different factors which affect the technical feasibility of such a system. The extent to which signal-strength-based metrics can be used as localisation metrics in search and rescue scenarios is explored in this research. A novel UAV-based test rig was fabricated to capture signal-strength-based metrics of Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular signals with respect to position for different testing environments. This research aims to assess whether a cellular aerial base station provides a viable platform for locating mobile phones in search and rescue scenarios. For a proof-of-concept, the results obtained show great promise that the system is technically feasible.