MobTrack: Locating indoor interfering radios with a single device

Abstract

In this paper, we present MobTrack, a single device system which aims to locate interfering radios on unlicensed ISM band in indoor environments. Compared with existing techniques which require a deployment of dense access points (APs), MobTrack only demands a single device equipped with multiple antennas. The location of an interfering signal source are estimated by computing the angle of arrival (AoA) of Line of Sight (LoS) component using an antenna array. Taking advantage of cyclostationary property, MobTrack differentiates interfering signals from working signals. By moving the device around for a short distance within one meter, it depresses multipath effects and determines the LoS component. Simultaneously, the AoAs on the moving trace are recorded to estimate the location of the interfering radio by triangulation. We evaluate the performance of MobTrack by setting up a prototype experimental system. Compared with recent interference localization schemes, MobTrack has much lower hardware complexity and gets better localization accuracy with a median of 0.55 meters.