Cell Phone Tracking Technology

[RiverAux]

^River, although what you say is true, that is only one tool in the tool box.  Once the information from the cell phone company is obtained, it is just a matter of traingulation to figure out where the phone is, or at least the last known position of the phone.  However, you can get very accurate when dealing with antenna height and power as well as analog vs. digital signals.

There are several people in CAP that I know of that often get called upon to do this specific mission and are very good at it.

Say Tuba, are you ever going to give us some details on what you were talking about?  Just what data is CAP getting back from these cell phone request that we have to massage ourselves? 

[Tubacap]

sorry, tons of work currently, I will compose something this evening for you River... I am by no means an expert, but I do have a little experience here.

[Tubacap]

Okay, now I"m back.  I went back and re-read this thread a little.  Honestly the best resource right now is to go and read Capt. Ogden's presentation that Rangercap posted on page 1.

http://www.cap-es.net/Downloads%20&%20Links/Downloads.htm

There are a variety of things that are important.  The first is that if you can ping the cell phone, you have an LKP as long as you know the cell phone is on the person.  This can validate RADAR data or sometimes, the person will just pick up the phone. 

If you can get information from cell phone companies such as what tower and sector it is on, then you can inquire as to what the power output of this tower is, then you can overlay a topo and start narrowing down your search area due to terrain and distance from tower.

Again, I'm not a cellsar expert by any means, in fact ANY time I have ever had this, I call the author of the PPT and let him handle the cell part of the operation.  He has been very successful in this.

Another point to make is that there are pieces of equipment that do DF cell signals.  CAP does not currently have any of this equipment, but if you can find a LEO who does, this would make a great asset to have, especially if it can be airborne.