CAPCellPhoneSARIntro duction

Cell Phones & Locating Missing Aircraft: 

Cell Phones & Locating Missing Aircraft PAWG Wing Conference 2006 1st Lt Justin L. Ogden

Author Information: 

Author Information 1st Lt Justin Ogden Professionally, Electrical Engineer RF/microwave engineer for General Dyanmics SATCOM Technologies CAP member for over 13 years Work with DF, L-Pers, Pseudo Doppler Point of contact for PAWG cell phone searches AFRCC resource for cell phone searches Contact via email: justin.ogden@midstatecap.org Via cell phone: 814-592-2340

Overview: 

Overview Cell providers can determine the location of a cell phone on their network Precision of location depends on many factors Sometimes knowing where the phone is not is helpful as well PAWG CAP has used cell phones to locate 1 missing plane and provide details on other searches

Searches: 

Searches 06M0666A - Saint Thomas, PA April 25-30, 2006 06M1129 – Philipsburg, PA June 26, 2006 06M1591 – Bismarck, ND August 24 – October 2, 2006 06M1831 – Phoenix, AZ September 24 – still missing

06M0666A – Saint Thomas, PA: 

06M0666A – Saint Thomas, PA Pilot’s cell phone utilized to determine the location of the phone A/C missing on 25-Apr Cell phone records show phone activity until approx 5am 26-Apr Phone’s position never moved after 1:58pm 25-Apr

06M0666A – Saint Thomas, PA: 

06M0666A – Saint Thomas, PA MDWG initiated cell phone request with VerizonWireless Reported to PAWG to search NE of St. Thomas Never followed up PAWG followed up Determined new locations to search Explored further into the information until a location could be generated

06M0666A – Saint Thomas, PA: 

06M0666A – Saint Thomas, PA VerizonWireless Engineer assisted PAWG CAP with location information Cell tower coordinates and distances were provided Distances provided an area to search Pilot was located within projected search area

06M0666A – Saint Thomas, PA: 

06M0666A – Saint Thomas, PA Why was cell phone info so important? RADAR data was not immediately available False RADAR was disproved due to conflicts with what we knew about the cell phone Accurate RADAR data was confirmed with what we knew about the cell phone (5 days into the search)

AFRCC Images Removed: 

AFRCC Images Removed Due to restrictions imposed by AFRCC, their images have been deleted from this presentation

06M0666A – Saint Thomas, PA: 

06M0666A – Saint Thomas, PA What aided our use of the cell phone to find the plane? The phone was on Calls were placed to the phone post crash Voice mails were left The phone was within the Network

06M1129 – Philipsburg, PA: 

06M1129 – Philipsburg, PA Piper Arrow departed Tennessee for PSB on 25-Jun around 10pm Expected at PSB around 3am 4 people onboard, 3 cell phones Unknown if pilot diverted for weather PSB is known for lack of cell phone coverage

06M1129 – Philipsburg, PA: 

06M1129 – Philipsburg, PA 2 VerizonWireless phones 1 Cingular phone Records for all phones indicated no activity past 10pm – before flight Reassured us that they were probably not somewhere safe and in distress

06M1129 – Philipsburg, PA: 

06M1129 – Philipsburg, PA RADAR data was soon available A/C was located utilizing LKP of RADAR data

06M1591 – Bismarck, ND: 

06M1591 – Bismarck, ND Pilot missing for 3 days AFRCC made contact to pursue tracking of cell phone VerizonWireless provides us that phone was used prior to aircraft departing Bismarck – nothing after Bad weather was imminent in the flight path – no phone activity provided us assurance the pilot was probably not somewhere safe.

06M1831 – Phoenix, AZ: 

06M1831 – Phoenix, AZ Aircraft missing with 2 people, 2 phones on board (1 VerizonWireless, 1 Sprint) A/C was flying VFR – high VFR area, unsure of tracking the correct radar trail VerizonWireless provides info that confirms we were looking at the correct RADAR trail

Things we’ve learned: 

Things we’ve learned Any interaction with the phone is logged Text messages Calls that ring the handset Voicemail notifications Typically can provide a tower, distance and sector More detailed information starts to disappear 12-24 hours after the fact

Things we’ve learned: 

Things we’ve learned Phone must be on and registered within the network Technology exists to DF cell phones like CAP DFs ELTs – some law enforcement agencies have access to this

Things to do during a search: 

Things to do during a search Immediately: Send text messages to the phone Call the phone regularly These things must be done while the phone has a chance of still being on ASAP: IC should assign 1 trained person to research cell phone information with the carrier – this must be coordinated with AFRCC Continually through the search: Cell provider should be contacted periodically for any updates

On the horizon: 

On the horizon We must train people to know how to handle cell phone searches Requires knowledge of the cell phone network Requires a knowledge of how to get information from the providers Develop formal relationships with cell providers Investigate Cell phone DF technology and relationships with agencies that have it