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Cell phone tracking can identify terrorists who detonate IEDs

Imagine this hypothetical scenario: An Al Qaeda terrorist hiding in the Iraqi city of Tikrit uses his cell phone to call a second cell phone in Baghdad, 100 miles to the south, which triggers the detonation of an improvised explosive device (IED) buried underground, just outside a busy international hotel, instantly killing dozens of innocent Americans.

Now imagine that U.S. and Iraqi authorities, utilizing the latest in U.S. cell phone location tracking technology, can swiftly identify every cell phone that was operating in the vicinity of that hotel just before the explosion, can pinpoint which specific cell phone in that group suddenly ceased to exist at the moment of the blast and thereby identify the suspect cell phone, along with its phone number, SIM card number, hardware identification number, and perhaps even the name of that specific cell phone’s registered owner.

Now, further imagine that the same location tracking technology could “back-track” through the wireless network in Iraq and enable investigators to quickly determine which cell phone called the triggering cell phone, and precisely where that original phone was located (within 50 meters) at the time it made its lethal call.

Under such a scenario, without necessarily knowing the names of the owners of the suspect cell phones, U.S. and Iraqi authorities might be able to pinpoint the location from which the initial call originated, quickly visit that site, question people about suspicious characters in the immediate neighborhood, and target the specific phone.

Such is the promise of newly-emerging technology from an innovative company called TruePosition, Inc. of Berwyn, PA, which is attempting to take the techniques it has developed over the years tracking the geographic location of 911 emergency callers who use cell phones into the realm of homeland security, law enforcement and national security.

TruePosition has taken the initial steps in the U.S. and around the world to introduce its “Location Intelligence” solution, nicknamed LOCINT, to government officials who could track the location of cell phones in order to:

• Spot illegal immigrants in Mexico, carrying cell phones, as they make their way toward the U.S. Mexican border;

• Identify cell phone users in and around critical infrastructure facilities, such as nuclear power plants, whose unusual behavior was cause for suspicion and further investigation;

• Determine when a known suspect, carrying a known cell phone, has penetrated a predetermined perimeter and entered a sensitive airport, seaport or other vulnerable facility.

The key to TruePosition’s technical innovation is its marriage of a cluster of cell phone location technologies to a separate data mining and retention software system. The company refers to its collection of location technologies as the “TruePosition Location Platform” (TPLP) and its data mining capability as its “Location Intelligence Management System” (LIMS).

While its TPLP utilizes a variety of cell phone location techniques, perhaps the most intriguing is what it calls “Uplink Time Difference of Arrival,” or U-TDOA. Essentially, this technology measures the time it takes for a cell phone’s transmission signal to reach a series of nearby cell towers. By “triangulating” the differences in those times, the software can determine the precise location of the caller, within an accuracy of 50 meters, TruePosition claims.

“As a completely network-based system, U-TDOA can locate any mobile phone in any place,” says a white paper sponsored by the company. “It can detect any mobile phone, regardless of type, within the network without modifications to the phone, such as installing additional hardware or software.”

The TruePosition platform also uses other location technologies such as Cell ID, Enhanced Cell ID, Angle of Arrival, assisted GPS and various hybrid approaches that combine some of these techniques.

The data mining capability would allow users to archive all location information and calling activity for an extended period, gather intelligence based on criteria such as a caller’s movements or dialing patterns, and automatically notify authorities that a specific caller had entered or exited a predetermined “geo-fenced” area.

The company’s technology does not rely upon the interception of Global Positioning System (GPS) signals. “Bad guys will not walk around with GPS-enabled phones,” Brian Varano, TruePosition’s director of marketing, told GSN. “We can even locate a phone in passive mode,” when the phone is turned on, but it is not making or receiving a call, he added.

Investigators who have tracked terrorist suspects for years recognize that they often use pre-paid phones that are not registered to any specific owner, or are constantly switching the SIM cards inside their phones, to throw pursuers off their tracks.

“Our database allows you to identify someone who switches his SIM card,” explained Steven O’Neill, TruePosition’s vice president of product line management.

The company says it has just begun to market its LOCINT solution to U.S. Government officials as well as governments throughout the world. It anticipates a relatively quick acceptance in the Middle East and Asia, where decision makers may not give as much attention to the potential infringement on an individual’s civil liberties that this technology could represent. “We’re selling it in the Middle East and Asia where they can do real-time tracking of known suspects at any time, without a warrant,” said Varano.

TruePosition is hoping for a warm embrace by the global security community for its cutting-edge technology, but acknowledges it is still at the beginning of a long road.

“Our systems are deployed for trial purposes,” said Varano, “but we don’t have a deal at this time.”

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