Radio-Frequency Transmitter Geolocation Using Non-Ideal Received Signal Strength Indicators

Locating a radio transmitter is important in a number of problems such as finding radio tags, people with radios, and devices that are collecting information in an unauthorized manner. Locating a radio transmitter is inherently difficult because the radio waves of concern are not in the visible spectrum, they reflect and distort easily, and they propagate at the speed of light. A number of methods for locating transmitters are currently used, the majority of which require expensive hardware and extensive processing. This thesis presents a method of using simpler measurements to produce similar location estimates in order to augment or replace current systems. While other systems have significant advantages, the methods proposed in this thesis are advantageous because they only require easily-obtained measurements that are based on the observed power of the transmission. The research uses simulations and experiments on real-world data collected locally to demonstrate the possibility of locating a transmitter using information of this type. The conclusion is that some methods are able to compensate for the difficulties in the problem more effectively and produce useful location estimates