Hybrid location technologies: GPS, RFID and other technologies

A typical RFID tag with an active antenna

Continued from our previous report: There are other potential technologies for finding a mobile user’s location such as Bluetooth beacons, indoor messaging systems (IMES), machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, near-field communications (NFC), radio-frequency identification (RFID), and ultrasonic beacons. Many of these techniques aren't yet widely used; except for RFID, but that may change in the near future.

RFID tags can be installed in certain pre-determined locations and then serve as reference position generators for other positioning technologies such as sensors.  More commonly, they can be used with GPS/GNSS stations to geotag the RFID tag at a particular location - something that is now fairly popular for group sports, such as triathlons, marathons, and skiing.

Many lift tickets at major ski resorts now include RFID
Not only do they indicate the status of the lift ticket,
but when combined with geotagged readers at the lift
the skiers can be provided information about lifts they
visited at the resort.

Logistics and transportation are major areas of implementation for RFID technology. Yard management, shipping and freight and distribution centers use RFID tracking technology. In the railroad industry, RFID tags mounted on locomotives and rolling stock identify the owner, identification number and type of equipment and its characteristics. This can be used with a database to identify the lading, origin, destination, etc. of the commodities being carried.

When combined with the GPS/GNSS location of the locomotive, or trucking transportation system (using vehicle tracking systems)- specific orders and equipment can be located in near-real-time (if they are in a wireless coverage area).  For instance - in produce transportation (which is usually RFID tagged), additional information from the vehicle tracking system can also indicate the temperature of the produce during the transportation process.

RFID tagged packages can be geotagged using vehicle or
fleet tracking systems that utilize GPS/GNSS for location
tracking.

In commercial aviation, RFID technology is being incorporated to support maintenance on commercial aircraft. RFID tags are used to identify baggage and cargo at several airports and airlines.

Many hospitals also utilize RFID tags for patient tracking, as well as to keep track of critical and potentially dangerous drugs.

Some countries are using RFID technology for vehicle registration and enforcement. RFID can help detect and retrieve stolen cars.  RFID cards are used for access control to public transport.
In London travelers use Oyster Cards on the tube, buses and ferries. It identifies the traveler at each turnstile and so the system can calculate the fare.  It's possible in the future that vehicles may include RFID tags for licensing, and VIN identification.

A runners RFID gate.  It is geotagged
when it is setup using GPS/GNSS and
as the runners pass through the gate
or over the pad, their identifying RFID
is geotagged and time-stamped, and
Wi-Fi is used to transfer the information
to a central database - and then
forwarded for near-real-time updates on
the runners progress - or for later
analysis with additional data.

Due to some poor marketing information, there has been some confusion regarding the functionality of RFID and GPS/GNSS; some have thought that the RFID tags can be used for location tracking on their own.  That is not the case.  RFID tags must be used with an RFID 'reader' that is in the proximity of the RFID tag.  The reader itself may be geotagged, so that the general location of the RFID tag can be registered for that time and date - but without the RFID reader and an additional geotagging location system, the devices cannot provide their current position.

One of the key enablers of hybrid positioning is an entity that can intelligently determine which positioning technique to use depending on reported readings from the mobile device. This entity may reside on the mobile device, on the network, or on some combination thereof. For example, the central database server for Wi-Fi positioning may be on the network, but a client on the device could get “snippets” of the database relevant to the current location. Termed the positioning engine, it can implement a position calculation function (PCF) using Kalman filters to process input data from a variety of sources, for example.

Hybrid location technologies simultaneously carry out all of these positioning techniques. Depending on the reported readings, the positioning server prioritizes certain methods over others. In addition, methods that provide a fast, low-accuracy fix may be prioritized over those that are slow but provide high-accuracy fixes.

RFID tags for runners can be included on
the shoe, or the wrist.  The shoe is usually
preferred since it is closer to the RFID reader.

Positioning may occur in MS-assisted (mobile station) or MS-based mode. In the MS-assisted mode, the positioning server calculates the final position based on measurements provided by the mobile device. In MS-based mode, the mobile device (smartphone, vehicle tracking device, etc) calculates the position based on its own measurements and optionally reports the final position to the server - either in near-real-time, or as a passive store and forward function.

RFID tracking for marathons would be considered an MS-assisted mode, since the geotagged and time-stamped information regarding the runner is done at the RFID gate.

Smartphone tracking using GPS/GNSS would be MS-based mode.

One of several fitness bands currently
available on the market.

A combined or hybrid system could use both technologies - the RFID tracking system to provide near-real-time runner location. Using a local smartphone system, combined with a Bluetooth biometric system such as a fitnessband or activity tracker.  The fitness band sending information to the connected smartphone system which then combines location, altitude, instantaneous speed, a highly accurate time-stamp, and the biometric data collected such as heart rate, oxygenation levels, calories burned, etc.

This data can be forwarded from the smartphone (as a wireless network is available during the activity) to the central server that is also collecting RFID location data for the runner.  The server can then post-process any critical biometric data to provide additional alerts or updates (via email or SMS) to either the runner, family, or coaching staff as needed.

Hybrid tracking systems are likely to be used more in the future as technology progresses in order to provide multiple redundant methods of location tracking under changing environmental conditions, as well as to provide geotagged data for more sophisticated analysis and functionality.

Sprint lost 2M subscribers after Nextel network went dark

Sprint pulled the plug on its old Nextel iDEN
network in Q2 triggering a huge exodus of customers.
With new spectrum from Clearwire and new capital
from SoftBank, though, the rest of the year looks brighter.

As reported by Gigaom: Sprint Corporation's first earnings report as a SoftBank-owned company wasn't exactly a positive one. Sprint shed 2 million customers in the second quarter, nearly 4 percent of its subscriber base. The big reason was Nextel, which Sprint shut down completely at the end of June.

The network shutdown resulted in 1.3 million iDEN subscriber losses, but that wasn't Sprint’s only pain point. Its retail prepaid and its wholesale connection businesses also took big hits. The only area where Sprint saw growth was in postpaid contract customers, which increased by 194,000.

That customer exodus contributed to the widening of its quarterly net loss to $1.6 billion from $1.4 billion a year ago. Sprint’s revenues, however, remained steady at $8.9 billion both quarter over quarter and year over year.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse

Sprint executives at Tuesday’s earnings call, however, said the worst was behind them. With the iDEN network fully decommissioned, the steady stream of fleeing Nextel customers will now cease. Sprint’s acquisition of Clearwire and SoftBank’s majority investment in Sprint officially closed in the third quarter, giving Sprint a huge infusion of both capital and spectrum. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said that cash and those airwaves will allow Sprint to become a much stronger competitor and build one of the most powerful networks in the country.

Sprint’s immediate priority is its LTE rollout. Sprint is one of the few carriers still offering unlimited plans. Once those plans are combined with LTE’s superfast speeds across its footprint, Sprint will have a key way to differentiate itself from Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

To that end, Sprint announced Tuesday it has extended LTE coverage to 40 new markets, most of them small cities with Philadelphia; Portland, Ore.; Oakland, Calif.; and Jacksonville, Fla., being the exceptions. Sprint has been bringing LTE to the big cities gradually since it began its roll-out last year. Last week, it turned on its new 4G service across the Bronx and Brooklyn, but not New York’s other three boroughs. Now it’s starting its Bay Area LTE expansion in Oakland before making its way to San Francisco.

Sprint now has LTE in 151 markets, though it hasn't yet revealed how much of the population is now covered by its LTE umbrella.

Hybrid location technologies: GPS, cellular ID, and triangulation - trilateration

The handset and the base-stations interact to implement
observed TDOA positioning.  The RTT measurement
is used for eCID mobile location.

As continued from our previous report: Cell ID referencing is a network-based positioning method where the user's equipment (UE) or mobile device position is estimated depending on the cell it is connected with. In the enhanced cell ID (eCID) method, the handset sends cell measurements to the network, which can be used to better estimate the position. Measurements can include (depending on the radio access technology or RAT) round-trip time (RTT) and timing advance. These methods can be used in any cellular network, but the specific eCID position estimation techniques may be proprietary. They are accurate from 250 to 1000 m.

Location measurements involving distances is referred to as 'trilateration' and measurements involving angles is called 'triangulation'.  A third method is called multilateration which uses difference in distances or absolute measurements of time-of-flight from three or more sites at known locations.  GPS position location uses a type of trilateration.  eCID can use one or more of these techniques as a hybrid mobile tracking solution.

For some eCID location techniques, fingerprinting methods are similar to the approach used for Wi-Fi positioning. A central database is created with geotagged cell information, such as received signal strength indication (RSSI), cell ID, real-time difference (RTD), and network measurement record (NMR) in GSM. The mobile tracking device reports currently observed network information from the serving cell and all other nearby cells. This information is used as an input to a fingerprinting algorithm that estimates the mobile device position. Accuracy is 100 to 300 meters.

In time difference of arrival (TDOA) methods (downlink only), the mobile device detects the TDOA of signals between the serving base-station and one or more neighbors. The time differences can be used to estimate the mobile tracking device position. Typically, TDOA methods are more effective in synchronized networks. Accuracy ranges from 25 to 300 m. Common applications include:

• CDMA/advanced forward link trilateration (AFLT): Time differences in pilot signals from the serving cell and the reference cell are detected and used for positioning.
• LTE/observed TDOA (OTDOA): Special cell-specific reference signals, called positioning reference signals (PRS), are used for the time difference measurements.

The key handset factors that enable good performance vary depending on the technology. They all require the mobile device to be able to continuously measure the signals necessary for enabling the technology, while at the same time handling all the other call and data functionality required.

Positioning must be conducted in connected mode at the same time as various network procedures such as handovers, circuit-switched fall back (CSFB), and cell reselections. Cellular positioning typically does not provide as high-grade accuracy as A-GNSS, but it can assist in deriving a quick, coarse location, as well as provide an alternative for GPS or GNSS when indoors.

Foreign Airlines to Use GPS for San Francisco Landings

Asiana Airlines Inc. flight 214 failed to reach the runway
at San Francisco International Airport before touching down
 on July 6, 2013, causing the first fatal commercial plane
accident in the U.S. in four years.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

As reported by Bloomberg News: Non-U.S. carriers landing at San Francisco International Airport, where a plane flown by South Korea’s Asiana Airlines Inc. (020560), plowed into a seawall, must use global-positioning systems when landing, regulators said.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued the requirement and cited an increase in the number of aborted landing approaches since the July 6 crash of Asiana Flight 214, which killed three people. Jets executing the maneuver included one from Taiwan’s Eva Airways Corp. (2618), the FAA said yesterday.

Flight 214’s crash rekindled concern in the U.S. that foreign pilots rely too heavily on automated systems instead of flying manually. The Boeing Co. 777 neared the San Francisco airport using visual cues and its crew didn't comment on a critical loss of airspeed until it was less than 100 feet (30 meters) off ground, investigators have said.

“The FAA has done a good thing here,” said John Nance, an aviation safety consultant and a former commercial pilot. “They’ve got enough of our tower operators that can tell you when you assign a visual approach to these pilots from foreign carriers, they’re all over the sky.”

The increase in aborted landings, which are known as go-arounds, involved foreign airlines flying visual approaches, the FAA said in an e-mailed statement. Until the glide-slope indicators are available on Runways 28 Left and 28 Right in late August, the agency will assign instrument approaches to foreign carriers, according to the statement.

Eva Airways
One of the go-arounds being reviewed by the FAA involved an Eva Airways flight on July 23 in which a plane approached San Francisco at a lower altitude than is normal, according to the U.S. agency.
Airport construction closed the glide-slope indicator on the day of the Asiana crash, the first fatal airliner accident in the U.S. in four years. Instead, pilots were instructed to use visual approaches, U.S. National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman said earlier this month.

Three aviators who flew for Asiana or who helped train crews in Korea said in interviews this month that pilots for the Seoul-based airline rarely flew manually, even though they were well-trained on automated systems. The glide-slope indicator helps pilots stay on the right path toward touchdown, and is vital when visibility is limited.

South Korea’s government has begun an investigation to determine whether Flight 214’s crew was appropriately trained. Two South Korean pilot unions, meanwhile, have said the NTSB’s focus on “possibility of pilot error” risks skewing the results of the U.S. inquiry into the accident.

‘Major Disconnect’
Nance, the consultant, said the Asiana case underscored the danger of overdependence on technology.

“In Asiana, you had two senior pilots up there who weren’t really pilots, they were systems operators,” said Nance, who is based in University Place, Washington. “This has nothing to do with intellect. It is a major disconnect between policies that the nations and the International Civil Aviation Organization and basically the world’s airlines have signed onto with increasing automation.”

The next step should include barring all foreign carriers from flying into the U.S. until their pilots are properly trained to fly under visual conditions, Nance said. With technology always vulnerable to failure, pilots need the skills to fly manually so they can handle emergency situations, he said.

“If we’re going to put a pilot up here, we need to have him or her knowledgeable of what it means to be a pilot,” Nance said. “That means when everything else goes to heck in a handbasket, you can fly the airplane.”

The San Francisco Chronicle reported the requirement yesterday.

NASA Van Allen radiation belt probes provide data to help predict space weather for satellites

As reported by Nanowerk News: Using data from NASA satellites, scientists have discovered a massive particle accelerator in the heart of one of the harshest regions of near-Earth space, a region of super-energetic, charged particles surrounding the globe and known as the Van Allen radiation belts.

New results from NASA's Van Allen Probes show the acceleration energy is in the belts themselves. Local bumps of energy kick particles inside the belts to ever-faster speeds, much like a well-timed push on a moving swing. Knowing the location of the acceleration within the radiation belts will help scientists improve predictions of space weather, which can be hazardous to satellites near Earth such as the GPS and GNSS satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The results were published Thursday in the journal Science.

This video illustrates changes in the shape and intensity of a cross section of the Van Allen belts.

"Until the 1990s, we thought the Van Allen belts were pretty well-behaved and changed slowly," says Geoff Reeves, lead author on the paper and a radiation belt scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M. "With more and more measurements, however, we realized how quickly and unpredictably the radiation belts change. They are basically never in equilibrium, but in a constant state of change."
In order for scientists to understand such changes better, the twin Van Allen Probes fly straight through this intense area of space. One of the top priorities for the mission, launched in August, is to understand how particles in the belts are accelerated to ultra-high energies.

By taking simultaneous measurements with advanced technology instruments, the Van Allen Probes were able to distinguish between two broad possibilities on what accelerates the particles to such amazing speeds. The possibilities are radial acceleration or local acceleration. In radial acceleration, particles are transported perpendicular to the magnetic fields that surround Earth, from areas of low magnetic strength far from Earth to areas of high magnetic strength closer to Earth. Physics dictates particle speeds in this scenario will increase as the magnetic field strength increases. The speed of the particles would increase as they move toward Earth, much the way a rock rolling down a hill gathers speed due to gravity.

Simulated Van Allen Belts generated by a plasma thruster
 in tank #5 Electric Propulsion Laboratory at the
 then-called Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio.

The local acceleration theory proposes the particles gain energy from a local energy source, similar to the way warm ocean water can fuel a hurricane above it.

Reeves and his team found they could distinguish between these two theories when they observed a rapid energy increase in the radiation belts Oct. 9. The observations did not show an intensification in particle energy starting at high altitude and moving gradually toward Earth, as would be expected in a radial acceleration scenario. Instead, the data showed an increase in energy that started right in the middle of the radiation belts and gradually spread both inward and outward, implying a local acceleration source. The research shows this local energy comes from electromagnetic waves coursing through the belts, tapping energy from other particles residing in the same region of space.

"These new results go a long way toward answering the questions of where and how particles are accelerated to high energy," said Mona Kessel, Van Allen Probes program scientist in Washington. "One mission goal has been substantially addressed."

The challenge for scientists now is to determine which waves are at work. The Van Allen Probes, which are designed to measure and distinguish between many types of electromagnetic waves, will tackle this task, too.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., built and operates the twin Van Allen Probes for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The Van Allen Probes are the second mission in NASA's Living With a Star program, managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The program explores aspects of the connected sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society.

Court stops scientists from publishing codes that could wirelessly lockpick Porsches

As Reported by the Verge: Three cryptography experts from UK and Dutch universities have cracked the codes used to start luxury cars such as Audis, Bentleys, Porsches, and Lamborghinis, knowledge that could allow anyone with the right tools to wirelessly lock-pick a $300,000 car. The researchers were preparing to publish a paper in August explaining the method used to penetrate Megamos Crypto, the algorithm-based system used to verify an owner's key. However, Volkswagen's parent, which owns the four brands, has secured an injunction against the University of Birmingham's Flavio Garcia from a UK court.

The scientists argued that "the public have a right to see weaknesses in security on which they rely exposed," but a judge ruled three weeks ago that "car crime will be facilitated" if the scientists publish the algorithm. Volkswagen had asked them to publish a redacted version without the codes, but they declined. Since then, the decision has become part of a wider discussion about car security.

It emerged in court that their complex mathematical investigation examined the software behind the code. It has been available on the internet since 2009.

Reviewing scientists said they had probably used a technique called "chip slicing" which involves analyzing a chip under a microscope and taking it to pieces and 'reverse engineering' or inferring the algorithm from the arrangement of the microscopic transistors on the chip itself – a process that costs around £50,000 ($77,000USD). The judgment was handed down three weeks ago without attracting any publicity, but has now become part of a wider discussion about car manufacturers' responsibilities relating to car security.

The scientists said they examined security on everything from Oyster cards to cars to enable manufacturers to identify weaknesses and improve on them.

The injunction is a temporary step in the case brought by Volkswagen, so it's possible the decision could be reversed. In the meantime, we'll be on the lookout for PhDs driving 911s.

GPS spoofing demonstrated on super-yacht in the Mediterranean

As reported by FoxNews: The world’s GPS system is vulnerable to hackers or terrorists who could use it to hijack ships -- even commercial airliners, according to a frightening new study that exposes a huge potential hole in national security.

Using a laptop, a small antenna and an electronic GPS “spoofer” built for $3,000, GPS expert Todd Humphreys and his team at the University of Texas took control of the sophisticated navigation system aboard an $80 million, 210-foot super-yacht in the Mediterranean Sea. “We injected our spoofing signals into its GPS antennas and we’re basically able to control its navigation system with our spoofing signals,” Humphreys told Fox News.

By feeding counterfeit radio signals to the yacht, the UT team was able to drive the ship far off course, steer it left and right, potentially take it into treacherous waters, even put it on a collision course with another ship. All the time, the ship’s GPS system reported the vessel was calmly moving in a straight line, along its intended course. No alarms, no indication that anything was amiss.

Capt. Andrew Schofield, who invited Humphreys and his team aboard to conduct the experiment told Fox News he and his crew were stunned by the results.

“Professor Humphreys and his team did a number of attacks and basically we on the bridge were absolutely unaware of any difference,” Schofield said. “I was gobsmacked -- but my entire deck team was similarly gobsmacked,” he told Fox News.

White Rose of Drachs

The possible consequences, according to Humphreys, are both ominous and far-reaching.

“For maritime traffic, there are big implications,” Humphreys told Fox News from the bridge of the White Rose of Drachs. “You’ve got 90 percent of the world’s cargo going across the seas. Imagine shutting down a port. Imagine running a ship aground. These are the kinds of implications we’re worried about.”

As the Costa Concordia tragically proved, a cruise ship off-course can have disastrous results. The Exxon Valdez was only narrowly off its intended track when it ran aground on Bligh Reef, spilling 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound.

Humphreys told Fox News the easiest and most sinister “spoof” is to slowly slide a vessel onto a parallel course. Over time, the compass might read the same heading, but the ship could be far from where the crew thinks it is.

“You’re actually moving about a kilometer off of your intended track in a parallel line and you could be running aground instead of going through the proper channel,” Humphreys said.

And because aircraft have a similar navigation system to that aboard the White Rose of Drachs, Humphreys says a commercial airliner could be “spoofed” as well.

“Going after an expensive vessel on the seas and going after a commercial airliner has a lot of parallels,” he told Fox News.

The government is aware of this critical vulnerability. Last year, Fox News reported exclusively on a more primitive experiment Humphreys conducted using a small, unmanned drone. He was able to feed “spoofing” signals into the drone’s GPS, causing it to nearly fall out of the sky. As a result, Humphreys was called before Congress to testify, and also spoke with officials from the FAA, CIA and Pentagon.

This latest experiment takes Humphreys’ research to a whole new level.

“Before we couldn’t control the UAV. We could only push it off course. This time my students have designed a closed loop controller such that they can dictate the heading of this vessel even when the vessel wants to go a different direction,” Humphreys said.

Yet the Department of Homeland Security has -- according to Humphreys -- been “fumbling around in the dark” on GPS security, doing little to address the threat. Texas Congressman Mike McCaul, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee is incensed.

“It's a very serious homeland security issue that we've asked the secretary to review and look at and she's never responded to my requests,” McCaul told Fox News. “The department seems to be thumbing its nose at it, saying it has no jurisdiction over this issue and not really showing any interest in this issue at all.”

McCaul, along with Senators Coburn and Collins have asked the Government Accountability Office to look into what DHS is and isn’t doing to address this critical threat to national security.  A draft report is due in August, which could, depending on the results, trigger more Congressional hearings.
Meantime, Schofield is sounding a global alarm.

“People need to know this kind of thing is possible with a relatively small budget and they can with a very simple system steer the ship off-course -- without the Captain knowing,” he told Fox News.